


Not Slytherin.

by Draconis_patronum



Series: Trust me, Potter [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Genius Draco Malfoy, Hogwarts First Year, Hogwarts Second Year, Hogwarts Third Year, M/M, No Underage Sex, Oblivious Draco Malfoy, Pinning Harry Potter, Ravenclaw Draco Malfoy, Seer Draco Malfoy, Time Travel, Veela Draco Malfoy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-18
Updated: 2021-01-11
Packaged: 2021-03-01 04:34:21
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 26
Words: 65,693
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23149336
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Draconis_patronum/pseuds/Draconis_patronum
Summary: Everyone in the great hall watched, half in confusion, half in astonishment as the heir to the Malfoy family whispered,"Not Slytherin."
Relationships: Draco Malfoy/Harry Potter
Series: Trust me, Potter [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1664056
Comments: 497
Kudos: 1869





	1. A New Beginning

**Author's Note:**

> I love this trope.

Everyone in the great hall looked on in horror, some in amazement, and some in confusion as the heir to the Malfoy family chanted 'Not Slytherin' while being sorted. A quick glance at the Slytherin table would tell you how the Slytherin's felt about this.

Almost everyone expected the sorting hat to yell out Slytherin, but strangely, it didn't, it was almost like the hat payed attention to what the young Malfoy was saying, even headmaster Dumbledore seemed stumped, no one knew what was going on inside the young Malfoy's head, what he was saying, but whatever he was saying, the sorting hat was definitely listening to him.

A few people thought it was useless, he was a Malfoy, he would, of course, be in Slytherin, like so many before him.

They were wrong.

"Ravenclaw!" The hat roared.

The young Malfoy visibly relaxed, his shoulders slumped down and he let out a breath. Everyone's jaw dropped, they were all confused, a Malfoy in Ravenclaw? The older Ravenclaw's didn't even clap, except for the muggleborns.

The new Ravenclaw got off his stool and made his way to the table, everyone was watching him, as if they expected him to start shouting and throwing a tantrum, but he didn't, instead, he sat down in his seat and politely said hello to the people around him, some even returned his greeting (the previously mentioned muggleborns).

McGonagall was so stunned that she didn't even call out the next name until the Headmaster called out her name.

"Ron Weasley!" 

No one payed attention to the Weasley boy's sorting, the only thing that did bring the great hall out of their stupor was when the name, Harry Potter was called. At least that sorting went as expected.

"Gryffindor!" The hat called out.

Potter made his way off the stool and went to sit next to his friend, the Gryffindor table took quite a long time to quiet down. 

Malfoy looked over at Potter, with a slight smile and a calculating look on his face, his eyes were narrowed slightly. The great hall may have quieted down but everyone still payed attention to the young Malfoy, this was a sorting no one would forget soon, least of all Lucius Malfoy.

*****************

Harry Potter was walking down the hallway with his friend Ron Weasley when he heard some strange noises that came from across the hallway. He decided to investigate it, he ushered Ron to follow him.

He looked around the corner and saw Malfoy talking with some older students.

"No really, tell me, how does a death eater's son get into Ravenclaw, shouldn't you be in Slytherin?" An older Ravenclaw taunted.

He heard Ron snicker behind him, but he didn't find it funny, now he didn't like Malfoy's attitude at Madame Malkin's and how he had tauted Ron, but he didn't deserve to be bullied, besides, the older Ravenclaw reminded him of Dudley, he should step in, yeah, he should-

"I appreciate your opinion Davies, but the hat has spoken, are you questioning a thousand year old magic hat that was charmed by the founders themselves, do you find yourself a better judge of character than the brightest witch and wizards our society has known?" 

The group of bullies looked stumped at that, it took a while before Davies seemed to come up with a comeback.

"Just because you're in our house doesn't change the fact that your father was a death eater, everyone knows he just paid off fudge, what do you have to say to that, Malfoy? You share the same last name as a murderer, you were raised by a murderer." 

Malfoy didn't seem the slightest bit put off by Davies hidden insults or his accusations, he remained calm. 

"I still have my own free will, I am human, I am capable of being a different person with different values than Lucius Malfoy, or are you an exact copy of your parents? Have you never done something that your parents dissaproved of, surely they didn't approve of that. Does it not speak for itself that I was sorted into Ravenclaw, or do you want to insult your own house, Davies?"

Davies lifted up his own wand.

"You little-"

It was at that moment that Harry decided to jump in.

"Hey! Leave him alone!" He whipped out his own wand, he knew he couldn't beat him, but it just felt right.

"Harry, what are you doing!" He heard Ron whisper behind him.

"I have no idea." He whispered back.

"Yes, what are you doing, Potter?" Davies and Malfoy said at the same time, causing them to look at each other in disgust.

"Leave him alone, you bully!"

"Bully?-"

"What is going on here?" The strict voice of Professor Snape entered.

Davies seemed to jump, Snape was right behind him, looking at him with the look in his eyes, the look that everyone already knew meant that he was pissed and you were definitely getting dentention (and house points if you weren't Slytherin).

"Sir! I was just helping Malfoy get back to his dorm, um, he got lost." Davies mumbled, the confident persona was gone.

"Do you think me a fool, Mr. Davies?" Clearly, Snape wasn't fooled.

"No, Sir!"

"Hmm, Mr.Malfoy, can you tell me what happened?" Snape turned around to face Malfoy, who was purposely avoiding eye contact.

"I was at the library getting textbooks for your class, Sir, when I was going back to my dormroom, Davies saw me and started taunting me, he threatned me with his wand before Potter came."

"I did not you lia-"

"30 points from Ravenclaw for bullying another housemate, and you will be serving a week's detention with me." Thirty points was a bit much.

"Yes, Sir." Davies looked like he had given up.

"Now, go back to your dormroom, except Mr.Malfoy, you will be staying with me."

Harry didn't want to go, he'd rather stay and see why Snape wanted to keep Malfoy, but when Ron started tugging on his arm, he gave in and left, but he would definitely figure out why Snape was keeping Malfoy, he'll ask him tomorrow.

**********

Draco watched as Weaselbee tugged Potter away, why did Potter help him, oh if only the other Potter could see this, he would drop dead on the spot.

Severus cleared his throat, causing Draco to look over at him, he was mindful not to look him in the eye, it would be rather confusing to him why he couldn't break through a '11 year old's' occlumency, 11 year old Draco wasn't even remotely good at Occulemcy, even with Severus helping him.

"You seemed rather amused during that conversation, I would have expected you to start yelling at Davies and his companions."

"I'm not an idiot, Godfather, yelling at him would've given him more ammunition, like I'd want that, being smart with him shut him up." 

He briefly saw a impressed look cross the taller man's face, a rare look on him.

"You're father is not happy with your sorting." The suspicious look was back on Severus' face.

He rembered how little Draco had confided in his Godfather that he wanted to be in Slytherin, it must have come as a surprise to him when he started chanting 'Not Slytherin', but if it worked for Potter, it would sure as hell work for him, and it did, even though it did consider Gryffindor for a moment.

He shuddered at the thought of being in Gryffindor, yes he wanted to change, but he had _standards_.

"At least I'm not in Gryffindor." He mumbled.

"Do not fill me with horrendous ideas such as that, Draco." Severus sneered.

"I am talking about how you chanted 'Not Slytherin' under the hat, Lucius has heard about that, and as you can imagine, he didn't take it well." 

Of course Lucius heard, he always heard about everything, if everything went according to plan, he should get disowned soon, as long as mother didn't interfere to much. 

"How many things did he break?" Draco mumbled, still not looking Severus in the eyes.

"Draco." He wanted him to look him in the eyes, he wouldn't, he would never let anyone invade his mind again.

"You've been acting incredibly different since you've came here."

"There's nothing wrong with change, Godfather." 

"No, there isn't, but this change...you've been sorted into _Ravenclaw_ , Draco, I certainly didn't expect this from you."

"Than you better change your expectations."

With that, he left and made his way back to the Ravenclaw dormitory, not looking back at Severus, he didn't want to get into an argument with him, not now, not when the memories were still fresh in his mind.

*********

Opening the door to his room, Draco made his way inside, the room was full of books, ones that he himself had chosen to decorate with. Some were ones that you would expect to find in a first year's dorm, some weren't, but those ones were well hid, he was far from an idiot.

He made his way to his bed, no one else was in the room right now, he had time to think.

Just to think, yesterday, he was a 22 year old man, standing over Severus Snape's dead body, he had fought well, but everyone who fought against him died eventually, and it was Severus' time. He still didn't understand why the _Avada Kevada_ didn't send him to hell. He surely wasn't in heaven, and his hell would be much worse than this. Maybe it had to do with the fact that the familal magic had recently settled fully on him, that he had become a full blooded Veela, but that scared him.

It scared him because maybe Lucius Malfoy also made it back, he may have only been part Veela, but he had handled the family magic much longer than him, he was more skilled with that type of magic.

But Lucius wasn't killed by magic, that would elimate any chance of him making it back, but maybe he still found a way, his paranoid mind wouldn't let him be at rest, to many things had come unexpectedly that he couldn't not think of everything.

He would most likely get a howler tomorrow, he should be prepared for that. 

There were still so many things to do, so, so many. If he really was in the past, then he could change so much, he could prevent so many people from dying, and making some others death's speed up, wormtail would need to be disposed of as soon as possible.

But that would mean getting close to at least one of the Weasley's. 

Oh fuck it, the future was at stake, plus, becoming friends with a Weasley would surely make Lucius disown him, the quicker that happened the better.

Grabbing his hairbrush from his nightstand, he brushed his hair, fortunately, he had stopped using gel on his hair, that was an atrocious look, what little him was thinking, he couldn't fathom.

Tomorrow, he would put his plan in action.

Everything would be fixed, they would live, and the others would die.


	2. A Friendship

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a little note; these chapters are not Beta'd. I've started correcting them, but that'll take a while, so sorry.

Hermione Granger sat down in the library, silently crying.

Why did no one like her? She did what her mom said to do, she tried to help them, but they were all annoyed at her, especially that Ronald Weasley. 

The young girl started reading from her textbook, tears slowly started to fall on the paper, causing her to wipe her face again.

"Are you alright?" Someone asked.

Hermione raised her head to see Draco Malfoy standing above her with a worried look on her face. She scowled, why did he care, he had stood by while Ron had told her off, so why would he care now.

"Why would you care?" 

He actually looked surprised.

"Because you're crying and, I'm a nice person?" He tilted his head to the left a bit.

" _Nice?_ You stood there while that awful Ronald Weasley told me off in front of everyone!" More tears made its way down her face.

"Yes, I am sorry about that, but I figured it would be better to talk to you when half the school wasn't laughing at you, wouldn't look good for either of us if we were found talking with each other." 

At that, he looked around again.

"So you don't want to be seen with me?" More tears.

"No, I'm sorry, but please try to understand, you do know my father, right?"

"No! Why would I know who your father is?" He seemed both shocked and horrified at the idea of her not knowing who her father was.

"Well, imagine a rich man, who's friends with the President, and the President is a bumbling man who can't think for himself and is easily manipulated by this man, that's who my father is." 

Draco had read up on Muggle culture, and a 'President' seemed close enough to a Minister.

He cringed at her reaction.

"But why would the people choose someone like that to be their President."

He sighed and sat down at her side.

"There's a lot of corruption here, Hermione, and discrimination, some people here don't accept the idea of girls like you being here, girls who don't have magical parents, you're going to face a lot of bullying here if you don't make friends, and I'm willing to be your friend, even if my father might disown me for it."

"But why would you do that?"

"I hate my father, I don't agree with him, and you look like you could use a friend." 

"Fine, you and I might get along, Malfoy, I'm Hermione Granger."

She put out her hand.

***********

They walked to all their classes together now, she realized how wrong she had been about him, everyone had told her that he was a snob and that he would be horrible towards her especially and her 'kind' but they never explained what that meant, but Draco did, he answered all her questions on the wizarding world and even taught her more. 

Hermione absolutely loved learning about magic, others didn't understand, they thought she was a know-it-all, that she thought she was better than them, but she didn't.

When she did something that was wrong or she pushed into others conversations, Draco gently told her that what she was doing was rude, he taught her how to analyze other people, and she was happy. He was kinder than other people, but she still saw the way people looked at him, like they were expecting him to say something completely out of turn.

He had explained it to her, how he too, faced prejudice based on his family. But it was different with him, people didn't pity him as they pitied her, they looked at him with hatred, how could you hate an 11-year-old boy? 

Some looked at him with fear, and that was even more stupid, they were both 11 for Pete's sake, how were they going to do anything towards them, just because his father was a prat it didn't mean he was as well. But Hermione had to admit that sometimes Draco could be cruel, but that was only towards the people who were mean towards her, like the Slytherins.

He used his wit to answer people, he was good at manipulating people, sure, that could be a bad trait, but he didn't abuse it, and that was what mattered, intent, not opportunity.

For some reason, Draco had been hanging out with Harry Potter, even Ronald Weasley, although most of those conversations ended with the redhead yelling bloody murder. They were with the two of them right now, she had been paired with Ronald for a Transfiguration project, and Draco had been paired with Potter.

"You know, I don't get it, why do you hang out with, _Malfoy?_ " There it was, she was waiting for him to make a comment.

"Why wouldn't I? He's nice and treats me well, unlike some people." She didn't make eye contact with him.

"Hah! Malfoy? Like he would treat someone like you well." That made her whip around.

"You know what? I'm sick of this, you all judge him because of his family, just like his family judge's yours! You're a hypocrite, Ronald Weasley!" His jaw dropped open, and so did hers.

Did she scream that, looking around, she definitely did, Draco was looking at her with a smile on his face. Even McGonagall was stumped, this was her chance.

"You all treat him horribly, he doesn't pay attention, and he treats me fine, he isn't racist!" 

"Ms. Granger! This is completely unacceptable! You will report to me for detention today at 8:00 pm." 

She never thought she'd say this, but the detention was worth it just to see the look on Weasley's face.

************

"You crossed the line, Ron." Harry narrowed his eyes.

"But Harry, it's Malfoy!" Harry rolled his eyes, he was tired of hearing that excuse.

"What has Malfoy ever done to us?"

"He insulted me right when I met him!"

"Yeah, and he apologized for that, I accepted his apology for Madame Malkins, you need to get over it." 

" _Get over it?_ " 

"Yes! He's friends with a muggle-born, what do you say to that, you said he was just like his father, would his father do that?"

Ron calmed down a bit at that.

"No." He mumbled.

"So he's not like his father."

Ron didn't speak for a while.

"It's just, Dad's always told me about how bad the Malfoy's are, and when I met him, Dad seemed so right, he was a spoiled brat, but, he changed so much, Harry, I don't get it, it has to be some sort of trick." 

"I don't get it either, but maybe we could ask him, instead of insulting his friend." 

"Yeah, you're right."

"I always am."

**********

Draco was touched, really, he was. Granger had gotten a detention defending him. Originally he had become friends with her because it would bring him closer to the golden trio, but the more he got to know her, the more she actually grew on him, she wasn't a know-it-all like everyone thought her to be, she was a really sweet and bright girl.

He cringed when he thought about how he had treated her before, the old him really was a prat.

But it was working, he had already apologized to Potter and Weasley, Potter had taken it well, Weasley, not so much.

He had overheard the conversation between Weasley and Potter, Potter had managed to get through Weasley's thick skull, he was impressed. They would ask him soon, the perfect moment to form a friendship. The Halloween feast was coming up soon anyway, the sooner he got rid of Quirell, the better, he had to preserve Potter's innocence, at least until 4th year.

They were coming this way. He got a book from his bag and started walking while seemingly reading it. 

When he turned the corner he almost bumped into Potter and Weasley.

"Sorry!" He bowed slightly, maybe a little to courteous.

"Oh, no it's fine." Potter smiled, which Draco returned.

He walked back to his own dorm, he was slowly building a friendship with Potter, and even if that didn't work out, he had Granger as a backup plan, she was better than Weasley anyway. Speaking of Weasley, didn't something happen with the youngest one and the chamber? Oh well, he would pay attention to that when it was important.

Forming a friendship with at least one of the Weasley's was absolutely necessary, to break Potter out of his bedroom in second year, if Ronald didn't work out, then he would try the twins, he could tell he was already growing on them.

Right now, he needed to focus on figuring out how to defeat Quirrel, something in Potter defeated him, somehow, he still didn't have all the details about that. All he knew was that Potter had killed Quirell, expelling the spirit out of his body. How he would recreate the power of something that great, he didn't know. He would have to rely on the stars to guide him from here, it had been quite some time since he had his last vision, his body must be adapting to this new magical core.

The Eagle on the entrance to the Ravenclaw common room came to life as the young Malfoy approached it. The boy waited for it to speak its riddle, they were hardly challenging for someone of his mental capacity. It appeared as if the Eagle also know this, as his questions were always more challenging than the other first years.

"You see a boat filled with people. You look again, but this time you don’t see a single person on the boat. Why?"

He rolled his eyes, did the Eagle really expect to beat him with such a simple riddle.

"The boat has not sunk, all the people on it are married."

If it was possible, the Eagle would have scoffed, but since it wasn't, it let him through.

Making his way through the common room, he noticed the dirty looks he got from some of his older classmates, he didn't care, it would take a while and a lot of action before their views of him started to change.

"How come your riddles are always harder than our's, Draco?" A first-year asked him, only first years would use his first name so casually.

"Because I've answered all the other ones I think, they are fun though." He tried to remain as childish as possible. 

He knew why the Eagle was changing its riddles, and it wasn't because he had answered the first year's riddles. Maybe the others knew it as well, but it wasn't likely, they weren't exactly above average, the most above-average Ravenclaw he had seen was Patil, and she wasn't a match for Hermione, he always did wonder why she didn't make it into Ravenclaw, perhaps because she was as loyal as a Gryffindor, or maybe because of her bravery.

"Oh, here's the book you wanted me to get, Clearwater." 

The older girl looked shocked. She had mocked him about how long he spent in the library, she had dared him to bring her a book that hadn't been in the library for quite some time, he had found it in a chamber in the school, it was quite close to the library, how it got there was beyond him.

"Where did you find this?" She narrowed her eyes.

"In Hogwarts of course, where else would it be." He started making his way back to his dorm.

That was one favour done for a Ravenclaw, only a few more to go, little by little, he would make his housemates like him.


	3. Forming a Friendship

Hermione sat down hugging her book.

"I got detention." She kept on mumbling over and over.

Draco looked at her, a hand on his face, desprately trying to keep himself from bursting into a fit of laughter.

"Hermione, it's okay."

"No it isn't! My life is ruined!"

"Hermione you haven't been expelled-"

"Don't say that word!" She threw the book at his face, thankfully, it wasn't a big one.

"Oh my- just don't worry about it okay, McGongall will just make you write some lines on a board."

"Hmph." She crossed her arms, she was still mad about it.

For some reason she blamed Draco for her detention, as if it was his fault that she decided to be a good friend, but forget about that, he had to tell her that Weasley and Potter were actually planning to try and make up with him, she would either be happy for him or start telling him about how much of a trash human being Weasley was.

"Hermione, I have something to tell you."

"What?"

"Potter and Weasley are planning on making up with me, I overheard them."

"What! And you're just going to forgive Weasley? After everything he's said to you? I mean, I get Harry, he's a great person, but _Weasley?_ " She scowled.

"Yes Hermione, you have to forgive, and I'm going to forgive Weasley, besides, I did say some bad things about his family." 

"But you apologized, and he didn't accept it, that's his fault."

"He just needed time, he's heard only bad things about me for his whole life, it's can't be easy to learn that I'm not like he's heard."

"You're too nice for your own good sometimes, Draco." He almost laughed at that, no one thought him kind, let alone _too_ kind.

"Sure." He mumbled.

"You are, you forgive everyone so quickly, I don't get it."

"There's no point in childish feuds when you have the chance to fix it, why be petty just for the sake of being petty."

"I hate it when you make sense."

"Welcome to my world."

She slapped him on the arm, but at least she wasn't freaking out about the detention anymore, best not to mention that word in front of her anymore though.

************

"Hey, Malfoy." Potter stopped him while he was heading to Charms.

"Uh, can we walk with you?" Potter mumbled.

"Yeah." Draco raised an eyebrow while nodding his head.

Weasley looked timid, not a good look on him. Weasley wasn't looking at him. 

They started walking down the hallway, getting a few looks along the way, but Draco was used to it, Potter must have been as well, but he looked rather shy, he must not like the attention, as for Weasley, he didn't even seem to notice it.

"So, Malfoy, I wanted to ask you something." Weasley spoke up.

"Go ahead." 

"Why did you apologize for what you said? I mean, you just changed, like that." Weasley snapped his fingers.

"I was around people who would report me to my father if I _didn't_ say anything towards you, a Malfoy child is expected to act like a brat. I didn't want to compromise anything in case I did get into Slytherin." 

Potter and Weasley both looked like they didn't understand, the truth was that he had arrived here at the worst time, right when his name was called to be sorted. But he supposed he could bullshit his way through this conversation.

"What would your father matter?" 

He laughed at that, poor Potter and Weasley, they were still so naive.

"Imagine you making friends with a Malfoy, Weasley, better yet, imagine your father and my father being friends. Right, disgusting. Now, my father isn't exactly.. lenient when one dishonors his family name."

Potter looked horrified, he must have figured it out. He wasn't completely lying, Lucius did get out of hand sometimes, especially when he was drunk or after an encounter with Arthur Weasley, little Draco did have a few scars from them. But he really got out of hand once the Dark Lord came back, he basically went insane.

"Yes, Potter, you've figured it out." He said when Potter opened his mouth.

Potter closed his mouth and swallowed, Weasley still looked confused though.

"But can't you just leave them." 

"No, I'm eleven and don't have a magical guardian that I can go to, or at least, I don't have one that would believe me." That part was true.

"What are you talking about?" Weasley chimed in.

Potter turned towards him and whispered in his ear, slowly, Weasley's expression changed, he looked horrified. He looked back at Draco with a look of pity.

"I don't need your pity, Weasley." Draco said sharply.

"Right." Weasley nodded.

"But, I really am sorry for what I said at Madame Malkins, Potter, I was just being a brat then and I don't have an excuse for that." He bowed slightly, god he would have to start doing that.

"Could you stop with the bowing?" Potter rubbed his neck, his cheeks were a bit red.

"Sorry, customs." He shook his head.

"Well, here we are, and Malfoy, I'm sorry too." Weasley said as he walked away.

Draco smiled, it was all working out. Draco walked into the charms classroom and took his seat next to Patil, they were learning _Wingardium Leviosa_. Draco could do that spell non-verbally, would it be so bad to just do it. It wasn't like the first years were going to taunt him because of that.

"Swish and fli-"

"Draco how'd you do that?" Patil yelled in amazement as Draco preformed the spell non-verbally.

Everyone turned to look at him and Patil, most of them were confused, but Professor Flitwick took one look at him and his feather and he fell off of his stack of books. Okay, so maybe he shouldn't have acted on impulse.

"Mr. Malfoy! How have you preformed the spell non-verbally?" Flitwick ran over to him and looked him in the eye, a look of excitement in his eyes.

"I just thought of the incantation in my head and then swished and flicked." He smiled sheepishly.

"Amazing! I have never met a student, in all my thirty years of teaching, met such a young student who was able to preform a non-verbal spell so easily and on his first try, 50 points to Ravenclaw!" 

Draco's eyes widened, he had never earned that many points at once.

"Meet me after class today." Flitwick comanded, and then he went back to teaching his class, but Draco still caught him looking at him in fascination.

**********

"I have to say, what you did in class today was absolutely extraordinary, Mr. Malfoy." Flitwick said as Draco sat down.

Draco could feel his cheeks getting warmer, he always did like when people complimented his intelligence, it was something he and Hermione both shared.

"Thank you, Sir." 

"No, I don't think you understand how amazing this is, Mr. Malfoy, you did a non-verbal spell on your first try, the Headmaster must know about this, but I have a proposition for you, I want to privately tutor you for charms." 

Wait, did he say that the Headmaster was going to hear about this, of course Dumbledore had to hear about it, oh well, he might even get a few more points for his house, even if he didn't, it would give him a chance to talk to Dumbledore.

"Mr. Malfoy?"

Oh, right, the private thing. He should take it, Flitwick was the best dueler of his time. 

"Of course, Professor." Draco smiled.

"Amazing!" Flitwick looked like he was about to explode from excitement.

The man really was passionate about charms, he was passionate about magic itself, and that was what made him a great teacher and head of house.

"Um, can I go to transfiguration now?" Draco asked shyly.

"Oh, of course!" Flitwick waved goodybe as Draco left the classroom.

***********

"Mr. Malfoy, so you have decided to grace us with your presence." McGongall said as Draco entered her classroom late.

Draco was about to say something when Patil spoke up for him.

"Professor Flitwick kept him after class, he did a non-verbal spell his first try!" Patil said with the same childish excitement.

McGonagall's eyes widened at that, really, it wasn't that big of a deal.

"Very well, sit down, Mr. Malfoy." And he didn't even have house points taken away, wow, McGongall must have been feeling generous.

"Today, we will be learning about Animagi, can anyone tell me what those are?"

No one raised their hand, so Draco did. McGongall's eyes narrowed and it was quite some time before she called on him.

"The power to turn into a particular animal at will, the animal is meant to reflect your personality in some way and will take the same form as your _Patronus_."

McGonagall hesitated before answering.

"Correct, Mr. Malfoy, 10 points to Sl- Ravenclaw." He noticed that slip up, some of the teachers also did it, they really did expect him to be a Slytherin.

"Now, you have to register with the Ministry of magic if you become an Animagus, can anyone tell me the punishment for not signing?" 

As expected, no one raised their hands.

Draco hesitated before raising his hand again, McGonagall seemed frustrated that he was the only one participating, probably because he was getting everything right. She sighed before she called on him once again.

"Azkaban." 

"Yes, 5 points to Ravenclaw." 

She continued with her lesson, not asking questions again, it wasn't like this lesson was hard, they weren't even learning any new spells, she was just talking, all they really needed to do was open a textbook. Although he supposed it wasn't a well known art, the Animagus. 

Before he knew it, the class was over, but before he could leave the class, McGonagall spoke.

"Mr. Malfoy, could you stay after class, please?" Again?

Some of the people that were in Charms with him, laughed, at least they weren't making fun of him, but he supposed that would stop when the news got over te school that one of the first years performed a non-verbal spell on his first try.

Oh god why did he have to act on impulse.

He turned around and made his way towards McGongall's desk, he could tell that she was analyzing him, for what, he didn't know. 

"You were quite spectacular in class today, Mr. Malfoy." He nodded, that was a complement, that was good.

"Thank you, Professor." 

"I'm sure Professor Flitwick has already offered to tutor you."

"Yes."

"Well, if you continue being a prodigy, I will also tutor you privately, there is a lot of potential in you Mr. Malfoy." McGonagall smiled slightly.

He was happy that he had the oppurtunity to be taught by McGonagall privately, but really, this was getting ridiculous, what was next, Quirell?

He shuddred, no, get that thought out of here.

Getting up, he nodded at McGongall, which she returned, at least he didn't bow this time. 

He made his way toward the door and closed it as soon as he was out of the class.

"Looks like I'm a child prodigy."


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, almost 3000 words.

This was getting ridiculous, he had recieved multiple owls from multiple teachers requesting for him to be in private tutoring with all of them, the only one that wasn't harrasing him was Quirell, and thank the heavens for that, he didn't' know what he would do if bloody Quirell came up to him and wanted to teach him privately.

He didn't even want to think about what would happen if he said no.

And just like he had predicted, a few of the upper Ravenclaws had started giving him dirty looks, that was the thing, they were all obsorbed in soaking up as much knowledge as they possibly could, they didn't focus on much else.

Such a sad sight, he hoped the new batch of Ravenclaws would be better than these ones.

Looking around, he could tell that they already were.

Hermione hadn't reacted well to the overflow of letters he had been receiving, she had tried to be happy for him, but her jealousy had shown threw for just a moment, but he knew that she would get over it, that was just Hermione.

Now, an update on the Potter and Weasley situation, they had been talking quite a lot more nowadays, it seemed as if Weasley was starting to warm up to him, and he did appreciate that.

Potter however, was starting to confuse him, he was looking at him differently, and he was acting all shy, Draco was confused by his behavior, and he didn't like being confused, he would have to add 'find out what's wrong with Potter' to his to-do-list.

Speaking of Potter, one of the younger Ravenclaws had let him into the common room when they found him puzzling over the answer to one of the Eagle's riddles.

"Hey, Malfoy, I had a question?" Draco turned to Potter.

"What?" He asked.

"Can I call you Draco?"

Draco stopped what he was doing, why would Potter want to call him by his first name? They weren't nearly that casual yet, it was a stretch to say that they were friends, but he supposed that he didn't see anything negative coming from that.

"Sure?" He tilted his head and raised an eyebrow.

Potter beamed, "Awesome, thanks, Draco." He tested the name for a bit and then decided that he liked it.

"You have to call me Harry now." Potter decided.

Draco's eyes widened, calling _Potter_ by his first name? Calling Granger anything but Granger was a struggle for him, but Potter? He looked back at him and saw him giving Draco one of his looks, he looked like he would cry if Draco refused, and Draco wasn't a _monster_.

"Sure, Harry." He hesitated, the name felt weird, how could a name feel weird?

Potter beamed even more, Draco had to admit that it was nice to see when he was still innocent, even if Draco knew that he was going to lose it eventually. 

"Oh yeah, I came up here because Hermione wanted to invite you to Nearly headless Nick's birthday, we all don't wanna go alone." ~~Pott-~~ Harry smiled sheepishly.

Sir Nicholas' birthday was today? Today was the Halloween feast as well, it would be better to be there for when Quirell would burst in, but what was the point right now? Hermione was safe, as long as Weasley hadn't said anything stupid, Draco had saw him and Hermione together but hadn't thought much of it.

"Of course I'll go." Draco smiled, which Harry returned.

"Alright, we're already kinda late, we need to go now." Harry hopped off of the armchair he was sitting in.

Draco put away his notes and got off of the couch, following Harry, he didn't know where the ghost's party was.

************

" _What do you mean Hermione ran off_?"

"Draco, mate, I was just telling her that she didn't need to be-"

"She. Is. Sensitive!" Draco yelled and made his way towards the girl's bathroom, Potter and Weasley folllowing close behind him.

"I don't see what's so bad about this, she's in the bathroom, I'll apologize." Weasley said.

"The troll-" Speak of the devil, he stopped right in front of the girl's bathroom and saw that the troll had already gone in, he could Hermione yelling inside.

He broke into the bathroom in an instant, he could hear Potter and Weasley coming inside as well.

"Draco!" Hermione yelled, the troll swung his club at her again.

" _Protego!_ " He yelled, a sheild appeared around Hermione.

The troll turned around to look at him, it looked mad and confused, he glared at it.

Right when it was preparing another strike, Draco spoke,

" _Stupefy! _" A burst of red light made it's way towards the troll, once it hit him, it collapsed.__

__Forgetting about the troll for a second, he went over to make sure Hermione was okay, she was looking at him with suspicion._ _

__"How did you learn those spel-"_ _

__The teacher's burst into the room, Snape and McGonagall._ _

__"What is going on in here?" McGonagall yelled, but her eyes widened when she noticed that the troll was unconscious._ _

__"Draco knocked the troll out!" Potter yelled in amazement._ _

__Every pair of eyes immediately focused on him._ _

__"Yeah, with two spells! I think it was, Stupefy and Protego?" Weasley said, oh god, he saw the way Snape and McGonagall's eyes widened._ _

"Mr. Malfoy?" McGonagall said at the same time as Snape said,

"Draco?"

Draco didn't know what to say, he started stuttering, he had never _stuttered_ before. Hermione was still looking at him with suspicion, Harry and Weasley looked confused, they didn't know how advanced the spell was, there was no way a normal first year would be able to perform one.

"Everyone out, except you, Mr. Malfoy." Snape comanded, Hermione and the other immediately started arguing with them, but they were silenced when both Snape and McGonagall glared at them.

Hermione have him a look that clearly said 'we'll speak later.' Harry gave him a smile and a thumbs up, Weasley just waved goodbye (an improvement from when he just pretended that Draco didn't exist), it was good to know that he was getting over their family's blood feud.

Once they were all gone, Snape and McGonagall both leveled him with a look, Snape's was clouded with suspicion while McGonagall's had an hint of fascination and amazement, and just a bit of fear, why? Draco couldn't fathom.

"It looks like a trip to the Headmaster is due." Snape spoke, Draco started, ready to object, when his godfather lifted up his hand, and Draco stopped.

Draco followed both of them as they led him to the Headmaster's office, he didn't want to see him again, he _couldn't_. Just the thought of seeing him again made him hyperventilate, but he kept those thoughts to himself, he couldn't give them more reason to be suspicious of him.

They stopped in front of the door and McGonagall spoke the password.

"Sherbert Lemon." She did a motion with her hands and the door started to move.

Draco, Snape and McGonagall got onto the moving staircase as it brought them to the office, the tension was unbearable. Once they finally got to entrance, they all got off and walked towards the desk.

McGonagall made a gesture for him to sit down, he did so.

Shortly after he had sat down, the Headmaster came into the room, and all the memories of that faithfull day came back in an instant, the astronomy tower, Dumbledore falling, his stomach filled up with dread almost immediately.

"Mr. Malfoy, why are you here?"

Dumbledore spoke as he sat down at his desk, the old wizard looked over at the teachers that were standing on either side of them, they had a hidden conversation with their eyes, and Dumbledore's expression sombered up.

"Mr. Malfoy performed rather advanced spells for someone his age, _very_ advanced." Snape spoke.

Dumbledore stroked his beard, "I see, and what spells did you perform, Mr. Malfoy."

For a second, Draco considered lying, but decided against it when he knew that they could just inspect his wand to see if he really had used the spells that Weasley said he had, and they would, of course, show that he did. He didn't need to dig a deeper grave for himself.

"Stupefy and Protego." Draco looked down, creating the illusion of a scared child.

In the corner of his eye, he saw Dumbledore stop his movements and try to look him in the eye, trying to get into his mind. Dumbledore breathed in sharply.

"And where did you learn these spells?" Dumbledore asked.

Draco didn't know what to say, it wasn't like he could just say he was from the future, that would take a year and a half to explain, especially the magical theory of it.

"I can't tell y-"

Draco gasped, oh no, not now, _not no-_

 _"A new path shall be set for the equal, the prophesied shall meet a prodigy, born as the sixth month flourishes, two friends, once foes, shall carry the power to vanquish the one who has tainted their lives, one carries the power other's shall never know, nor shall they ever understand. So mote it be._ "

The world went black.

************

Dumbledore and company stood there, shocked and every other emotion. This boy was a _seer_ , a true seer, that would explain the advanced magic. But what the boy had said sounded terrifyingly close to what Sybill had said. 

Was this part of the prophesy, the boy had said a prodigy, he had said many things, Albus had already stored them in his mind, he would write it down later.

"A seer." Minerva breathed out. 

She had never heard a seer make a real prophesy, it was beautiful, even if the words carried a dark meaning, the pure magic that came from the boy as he spoke the words were utterly beautiful, now she understood the look in Albus' eyes when he talked about them.

Severus however, looked anything but amazed, he looked sad, and scared, a rare look on him, any emotion besides anger or disgust was rare on him, but fear was one that topped the list.

"Draco, he was born on June 5th." He tore his eyes away from the unconscious boy to look at them both.

"The sixth month." Albus finished for him. 

The boy was born so close to the seventh day of the sixth month, a day that would have flourished, as the young Malfoy put it, he was the child from the Prophesy. 

"Why would he keep this from me?" Severus spoke to himself.

"The boy is allowed to have his secrets Severus, and perhaps he didn't know he was a seer, it is not a gift he would have realized unless he had taken divination, which is not available until his third year."

That didn't seem to calm him down, Severus always a paranoid man.

"Albus, this boy, he is powerfull." The fear in Minerva's eyes was clear, she was thinking of the boy she had once known, she was not scared of the young Malfoy that layed in front of her, she was scared of who he reminded her off.

Tom Marvolo Riddle.

"He will not turn into him!" Severus hissed.

"No one is saying that he will, he does have power however, a power that Lucius Malfoy can not know if he doesn't know already."

"Lucius doesn't know, he would done much more already if he already knew." They all knew what Lucius Malfoy would do if his own son was a seer, it was fortunate that he didn't know, otherwise they would have much more trouble.

Lucius may love his son, but he always had dark intentions when it came to any sort of power he was gifted with.

"Send for Poppy." He whispered to Fawkes, he understood and took off for the hospital wing.

"One carries power, the other's shall never know." Severus whispered.

"If we are not meant to know it, we will not know it, but, prophecies can be a bit, bendy with their rules, if the boy wants us to know, we shall." Albus spoke, a tone to his voice, this conversation was over.

Minerva opened her mouth, but was cut off when Poppy burst into the office.

"Where is the patient?" She yelled, a box of medicinal supplies with her, Albus smiled, Poppy always was passionate about helping her patients.

"On the floor." Albus gestured.

Poppy looked at the floor to see the young Malfoy, her jaw dropped, but she shook her head, she could ask questions later, right now, helping Mr. Malfoy was more important.

But that didn't stop her from asking one question.

"Are you just going to let me treat him on the floor?" She hissed to the others.

Minerva transfigured a chair into a makeshift bed, just big enough for Mr. Malfoy. Poppy levitated the boy onto the mattress and started to treat him, first insepcting what was wrong, it was clear, magical exhaustion, she got out all the materials she needed to treat him, she didn't need to think about what she needed to do, she already knew, she was in her element.

It was a short process, the actual healing, once all the potions and spells had been administered, all they needed to do was wait, there was no rushing the waiting process, it was a crucial part of healing.

She stood up and faced the others, all their eyes were still locked on Mr. Malfoy, like they were trying to figure him out, especially Severus, Poppy had never seen emotions so visible on his face, it scared her.

"Can someone tell me what's happening?" She asked in a harsh tone, but she was really honestly scared, it had been a long time since Albus had asked her to heal a student in anywhere except the hospital wing when they were actually able to get there.

"The boy is a seer, Poppy, he just spoke a prophesy." Minerva said bluntly.

Perhaps she should have eased it onto her, Poppy's jaw dropped to the floor this time, and she wansn't closing it, she was truly and utterly shocked, Minerva couldn't blame her, she felt quite the same way.

" _What?_ "

"Surely you've heard the rumors about him excelling in all his subjects, now we know how he does it, he is magically gifted." Albus chimed in.

"Such a young child, a prophesy, what was it?" Poppy asked Albus.

"A new path shall be set for the equal, the prophesied shall meet a prodigy, born as the sixth month flourishes, two friends, once foes, shall carry the power to vanquish the one who has tainted their lives, one carries the power other's shall never know, nor shall they ever understand. So mote it be." 

Albus spoke word for word, his memory was impeccable.

"Once foes?" Poppy questioned.

Albus didn't have an answer to it, it was something that confused him as well, he couldn't understand how Harry and Draco had ever been foes, he had heard of the meeting in Madame Malkins, but you couldn't call someone your foe from that, even if he had insulted Ron. 

Perhaps that was the power that they knew not, something could have happened, what, Albus only had the slightest clue to.

"Alright, keep the boy here, once he wakes up, give him this." Poppy handed him a white glowing potion.

"I have to go tend to my other patients now, and don't bombard him with questions when he wakes up, alright, Albus?" Poppy warned, causing Albus to chuckle, he wouldn't dare do that to the boy.

"Tell Mr. Malfoy's friends that he's still in the Headmaster's office, please, Poppy." He politely asked Poppy.

Now, all they had to do was wait.

**********

Draco woke up on a much softer surface than the one he had collapsed on, for a moment, he thought he would wake up back in the future, in his manor, the empty, empty manor, the screams of people outside like there was every day.

He was relieved when he woke up in a sunlit cozy room, the Headmaster's office.

That relief was shorted lived however, when he heard someone clear their throat, he was reminded of Umbridge and he whipped out his wand and pointed it at the toa-

Oh, that was his godfather, he didn't look happy, and Draco was pointing a wand at him. They both looked and it and Draco laughed nervously, desperately trying to remember why he was here and where here was-

A memory flashed in his mind.

'A new path shall be set for the equal, the prophesied shall meet a prodigy, born as the sixth month flourishes, two friends, once foes, shall carry the power to vanquish the one who has tainted their lives, one carries the power other's shall never know, nor shall they ever understand. So mote it be.'

A new prophesy, a new prophesy that he had predicted, wow, he stepped up a ladder on the seer scale. 

This one was different from all the other snippets he had gotten from the stars, this was accompained by some memories, memories that weren't his own, they weren't even like memories, they were more similar to flashes of places and things.

A Diadem, a locket and a diary, and for some reason a ring that was accompained by Dumbledore and black veins, Draco didn't know what was happening (for the first time in quite a while) but he knew that he had to get these items and he had to stop Dumbledore from wearing a ring.

"Headmaster, don't wear a ring in the future, just dump all the ones you own." Draco said spontaneously, Dumbledore chuckled but nodded nonetheless, he would have to keep an eye on the jewlery this man purchased.

"Draco." Snape said in his stern voice, Draco looked over at the man to find him looking at Draco like he didn't know who he was.

"You're a seer." 

"I thought that much was obvious." He raised an eyebrow, Snape narrowed his eyes even more at him, did he expect Draco not to know he was one?

"Remember what Poppy said, Severus, we shall not ask Mr. Malfoy questions." Dumbledore stated.

"That was not a question Albus, it was merely a statement." How idiotic did he think Draco was?

"One that answered a question." Draco chimed in.

"Herbology is my first class, how long have I been out?" Draco asked, he was a tad bit worried considering the fact that it looked like the sun was rising.

"We have been here since yesterday night, I called Professor Snape and Professor McGonagall when I noticed that you were moving." Dumbledore answered.

"Your friends are looking for you, Mr. Malfoy, we will have time to ask all the questions we need to when you are in better health, right now, you should go to your herbology class." McGonagall said, she was pointing to the door, practically kicking him out.

"But Mr. Malfoy, before you go, if you haven't told anyone you are a seer, do not." Dumbledore told him, he was rather serious about it. Draco didn't mind, he already didn't want to tell them that he was one.

Draco nodded and left the room, he could feel all three pairs of eyes on him as he walked out, the tension in the room still hadn't disappeared, if anything, it had grown while Draco was out, most of it came from Snape.

But he didn't have time to think about that, right now he was more worried about how he would deal with Hermione, she was one of the only ones in their trio that understood how powerfull of a spell the one that he cast was, for a first year.

Such a shame that Herbology was one of the only classes that he did have with the Gryffindors.

**********

As soon as he entered Herbology, the three of them, Harry, Weasley and Hermione surrounded him. Before he had the chance to say anything, Hermione asked him,

"Where did you learn that spell? How did you preform it?" Hermione asked sharply.

"I can't tell you." Draco looked away.

"What do you mean you can't tell me?" Hermione held his wrists, she had clearly been thinking about this for the whole time he was gone. Harry and Weasley nodded, Hermione must have educated them about how advanced the spell really was, and now they needed to know too.

"You don't trust me?" Hermione let go of his hands, she looked hurt.

"No! Dumbledore made me swear not to." Draco looked Hermione in the eyes, there were tears in her eyes, Draco wasn't kidding when he said she was sensitive (at least, as a first year).

"Does it have to do with your father?" Harry asked, he looked shy, but then again, he always looked shy.

That was it! He could blame it on Lucius, Hermione wouldn't question him about that, and neither would Harry or Weasley. He looked away and pursed his lips together, practically confirming what Harry had just said.

Hermione put her had on her mouth, she clearly felt guilty, she had promised him that she would never ask him about his father when she noticed how it made him feel. It hurt him to see her feel guilty for something that wasn't her fault, but this was the only way he could keep his secret, he would tell her when she was older, when she could understand it.

"Oh my god, Draco, I'm sorry." She hugged him, it looked like Harry and Weasley wanted to as well, but they weren't that sure.

Hermione let him go and they all walked into the greenhouse together, the tension was gone.

Professor Sprout started talking but Draco wasn't paying attention, right now he was only thinking of the prophesy he had predicted and what it meant, he was suddenly aware of the massive headache he got whenever he thought of it, he would need to think about it later.

Looks like he needed to decode a prophesy, this should be fun.


	5. Chapter 5

"Harry got on the Quidditch team?" Draco was shocked, he hadn't stolen the remembrall this time, how had Potter gotten on the team?

"Yeah, that awful Nott stole Neville's remembrall, you should have seen it, mate, Harry caught it right before it hit the ground!" Ron seemed more happy that Harry had gotten on the team than Harry himself.

Interesting, very interesting, Potter had gotten on the team even when Draco hadn't done anything, that meant that his theory was right, fixed points. A fixed point in time, something that made the structure of that timeline, if they didn't happen, the timeline itself would fold in on itself, because of this, the universe made sure that it happened, no matter what. 

In this case, Nott took Draco's place in the remembrall incident, meaning that he would most likely take Draco's place for all other instances that needed to happen, why Potter had to become a seeker, however, he did not know, perhaps it had to do with the fact that many things happened to Potter on the Quidditch pitch, a fixed point always helped protect another fixed point.

Since Nott had taken Draco's place for this fixed point, the next one that involved Malfoy and Potter would be replaced with Nott and Potter, Nott would become this timeline's Malfoy, but that meant that Nott would also take the dark mark during his sixth year.

Draco cringed, he couldn't let that happen, yes, he hadn't been close friends with Nott, but from what he remembered, Nott wasn't a complete prat. Another theory popped into Draco's head, would Nott feel the same way Draco had felt, did being a fixed point mean that he would feel the same way the previous fixed point was meant to feel, did different people affect the timeline itself-

Wait, what had they been talking about again? Oh yes, Harry had become seeker, he should probably be happy for him.

"Great job, Harry!" He gushed.

Harry's cheeks pinked, he must have a thing for compliments, his cheeks always pinked when Draco complimented him, which wasn't often, but he could only assume that it was the same for other people, after all, why would it be different for Draco alone? A rather ridiculous thought.

"Thanks, Draco." Harry smiled, it was all teeth. Draco still wasn't used to hearing Potter call him by his first name, yes, Draco did sometimes refer to Potter by his first name in his thoughts, but he only called him by his first name in reality because Potter had specifically asked for it.

It was a habit of seven years, it was pretty hard to get rid of.

"Anyways, I have to get to my dorm, I have a lot of homework to catch up on." They all nodded, Draco wasn't lying, he did actually have two days of homework to catch up on, but it wasn't like it was hard, it was first year work for Merlin's sake.

What he really wanted to do was analyze the vision he had, it was rather important. 

Draco waved to his ~~frie~~ \- acquaintances. Merlin, he had almost referred to them as his friends, but, weren't they his friends, they fit all meanings of the word, but they couldn't be, they were the golden trio, not the golden quartet, but-

He shook his head, he didn't have time to think of such trivial things, he had to focus on the task at hand.

Nearing the portrait, Draco waited for the Eagle to rise, it always took a bit too long, was it faulty or something, it could be another project to work on, fixing the damn door.

"What English word has three consecutive double letters?" The Eagle asked.

"Bookkeeper." Yet again, the Eagle gave him a _look_ , but swung open nonetheless, he wondered if the Eagle felt accomplished if it spoke a riddle that a person couldn't figure out, was that its purpose?

He made his way to the boy's dormitory, the common room was empty, Ravenclaw's didn't spend much of their time in their common room, Draco actually liked that, the common room was a nice place, and having it all to himself gave him another space to think comfortably.

Entering his dorm, he dumped all his books and materials on his bed, the others that were in the room didn't pay him much mind, they were all too absorbed in what they were doing. A nice change to all the nosy Slytherin's.

He picked up the book that had caught his eye, it had a simple title.

 _Seer's: Visions's_

This certain author specialized in many Seer related subjects, Draco had done a bit of research on her and had learned that she had been rumored to have a seer relative, a close one, that would certainly explain why she had such reliable information on the subject, when Draco had first figured out he was a seer (6th year), he had found comfort in this woman's books, mostly because of how accurate the information was.

That was when Draco had realized how much he craved knowledge, how desprately he wanted to learn and understand, to prove himself. That was how he had found that book, that book that was in the library for some unknown reason, the book that had saved him, the book that had provided him with the knowledge on how to travel back in time.

He had met the man who had written the book, and he had helped him, a weird man, but a sweet one. Draco believed his name was, _Nicholas Flamel? _Draco didn't know why that name felt so familiar, apart from the topic of time travel, he always had a bad memory, something that Potter had said, when he had caught him doing the ritual, in the Manor, when the death eaters had broke in, when the resistance had arrived to fight, when Potter had said as much as he could to make sure he did everything right, and had told him how to avoid being in Slytherin.__

__He should thank Potter for that sometime._ _

__Flipping through the book, Draco was immediately absorbed in the book, the knowledge that laid in its pages, and the familiar and comforting feeling of learning something that he could put to use enveloped him, and made him feel absolutely giddy._ _

__Draco already knew that this would be a amazing study session._ _

__**************__

"Eureka!" Draco yelled, and then slapped a hand on his mouth, he couldn't help it, he yelled it out when he got excited, it was an embarassing thing to do, but he just couldn't help it.

"Jeez, Malfoy, we get it, you're smart, no need to rub it in." One of the boys who was in the dorm looked up from his book, the others were all looking at him weird, but he was the only one who said anything, Draco thought his name started with a E.

"Sorry." He rubbed the back of his neck, feeling blood start to rush to his cheeks. Merlin, he hated humiliation, it was the worst type of torture imaginable.

They didn't pay him much mind after he aplogized, and mere minutes after he had yelled it out, the word was forgotten. Draco looked back at the book, at the page that had made him so excited, he had figured it out, he had learned why he was having trouble with his visions.

It was something called _Seer Obstructionum_ , a major change in the Seer's life or major disruption in the Seer's magic would cause their eye to promptly close, making it hard, near impossible to get vision's or even listen to the stars.

But when the eye did finally adjust to the change, it would go haywire, months of data, months of vision's, even the tiniest ones were unable to get through, to show the Wizard or Witch what they were meant to know. The eye would go into overdrive, mashing up all the data and pushing it out at once, it took a lot of magical energy out of the Seer.

There wasn't much known about _Seer Obstructionum_ , there was limited knowledge on Seer's in general, but it was speculated that the amount of energy it would take for the eye to force the vision's out would be enough to force a prophesy out of the Seer, and that was what happened to Draco, that was why he had felt so exhausted after the prophesy, because it was forced.

The time travel had messed it up so much that the eye had taken two months to adjust, not to mention the fact that it had to adjust to an 11 year old with the power of a 22 year old Veela.

Speaking of Veela, he had to buy those surpressants soon, if the eye had already adjusted, his Veela inheritance should be coming soon as well. And to think that he had actually thought that it was gone, foolish, he would never be rid of the curse that was being a Veela. 

No matter, he would figure it out, he always figured it out.

Now, he needed to analyze the prophesy itself, he knew the cause of it, but what did it mean. Draco doubted he would find much information on it though, hidden meanings, yes, he could find those, but they would take almost all of his time. Prophecies always were the one thing that bugged him.

But now Draco had a question, if he didn't travel back, if he had stayed in the Manor while everyone was dying, while the Death Eaters were killing everyone one by one, when they had finally killed professor Snape, if he had stayed, would he still have had the vision, the prophesy.

Potter and him weren't exactly 'foes' anymore, as the prophesy had put it, they weren't friends, but then again, prophecies always were a bit off on the details, they didn't exacty have a big vocabulary, did they? 

Probably not, he didn't have a 'power that they knew not' back then, maybe being a Veela, but that wasn't a unknown power, (well, if you included seduction), male Veela's weren't unheardof, they were just extremly rare.

But now, he needed to go back to studying, it was almost curfew after all.

************

"Draco." Who was it, he didn't want to get up.

"Go 'way." He mumbled and pulled the cover's over his head.

" _Draco._ " The voice whispered louder, it sounded familiar.

" _What_?" Draco asked.

"Sorry." Why would-

The covers were yanked off of him, and he was hit by a rush of cold air, he was awake now. Looking over at the person who had so rudely woken him up, he was ready to chew them out, ready to make a scene, _no one woke him up._

"Potter?" He rubbed his eyes, that was a Potter shaped blurb.

Oh shit, he used the wrong name, Potter didn't seem to mind though, he looked happy that Draco wasn't yelling at him. 

"I have to show you something." Draco was fully awake now, if a bit groggy. What did Potter need to show him?

"What?" 

"Just follow me." Potter draped something over him, they were both under the thing and _close_ , Potter's cheeks pinked again, did he have a condition or something?For some reason, Draco was tempted to put his hand on Potter's forehead, checking his temperature, but that was ridiculous.

"Wait, it's past curfew." Draco whipered when Potter started to tug them foward.

"Don't worry, I got this thing, it's super cool, just put it on and no one can see us under it." Draco's train of thought crashed and burned at Potter's statement, what type of magical device-

It didn't take long for his mind to come up with an answer, he didn't even have time to finish his sentence before he knew exactly what this was, _an invisibility cloak_. Potter, that bastard had this cloak since first year, that was how he had never gotten in trouble. 

"Draco?" Potter seemed worried, but Draco didn't care, he was mad.

"That was how he did it!" Draco yelled, Potter put a hand on his mouth, muffling Draco's speech. Oh, that absolute prat, if Draco could talk to his Potter, he would ring his neck.

"Draco, are you okay?" Potter seemed concerned, causing Draco to calm down, of course he said that out loud, him and his big mouth, but still, Potter had basically recaped his whole life to him when Draco was getting ready to leave, but he couldn't tell him that he had an invisiblity cloak that basically gave him the ability to do anything at all, well, perhaps the fate of the wizarding world was a tad more important, but-

"Oh, Merlin, I think I broke him." Potter mumbled, that was nice, Potter was using Merlin instead of 'God' as he had used to do.

"Yeah, I'm fine, what did you want to show me?" Draco shook his head a bit, trying to shake the thoughts out of his mind, he always was an active thinker, a bit too active if you asked him.

Potter waited for a second before answering him, as if he was waiting for Draco to yell something out again, "Just follow me." 

Potter dragged Draco across the castle, it was weird, they had walked past Flich without him even noticing they were there, Potter even did a few childish faces, moking the man.

"Look!" Potter took off the cloak and grabbed Draco's arm harder, pushing him towards what looked like a mirror.

There was an ancient language on the top of it, Draco recognized it, and his brain automatically changed it into english, The Mirror of Erised. Potter was still looking at him, all giddy, a huge smile on his face, practically jumping up and down. Draco looked in the mirror.

_Oh._

"It's my parents! It's my parents! And..it's yo-" 

Potter's voice sounded far away, miles and miles away, Draco didn't care about what he was saying, he only cared about what the mirror was showing him.

It was Draco, standing in the mirror, the older Draco. Behind him stood his parents, his mother and his father, Draco's left sleeve was rolled up, and so was his Father's, both their forearms were blank, there was nothing ingraved in them, it was just skin, no dark mark. 

The older Draco was smiling, a real smile, not a smirk, not a fake smile, but one born of real happiness. His hair was long, like his father's, but more _perfect_ , the Draco in the mirror wasn't surpressing his Veela, that was why everything about him looked perfect. 

A sob ripped its way out of his throat, he was _happy_ , everyone was, his father didn't have that look in his eyes, that defeated look, one that bordered on complete insanity. Mother looked like her old self again, she looked a thousand years younger, like she had before the war, before everything had gone so horribly wrong. And Draco, Draco was happy, he was _free_.

The mere thought of being free ripped another sob from him, and once it started, he couldn't stop. 

His vision was clouded with tears, and Harry was looking at him, mortified.

"Draco, did I say something wrong?" Harry asked, despite the circumstances, Draco laughed, even now, Potter was still a self-conscious idiot, how had he changed so much over the years?

"No, you idiot." Draco's voice sounded watery, and he sniffed in the middle of the short sentence, but he was feeling better, Potter was distracting him, keeping Draco from looking in the mirror again, keeping Draco from letting his emotions out, because Draco knew, if he let them out now, he wouldn't be able to bring them back in. 

"Is the image really that bad?" Potter looked down, Draco didn't know what Potter had said, or why whatever Potter had seen in the mirror would cause a reaction like this from Draco, but he didn't care, Potter had asked him a question, and Draco wanted to answer.

"I don't know what you saw in the mirror, Harry, but this mirror is called the mirror of Erised, it shows you your deepest desire, even if you don't know that you want it, it'll show it." Draco felt better now, his voice still wasn't back to normal, and he was still fighting the tears, but he felt better, and that was all that mattered.

"It shows us what we want?" Harry asked, another question, another distraction, and yes, Draco decided that he liked this Potter, he was a welcome distraction to everything.

"Even if you don't know you want it, it'll show it, you probably see your parents right?" Draco smiled, he thought Potter had told him what he wanted, but Draco had been so focused on his own desire, that he didn't pay much attention to Potter's words.

"Didn't you say something else?" Draco asked, because now he was curious.

Potter's eyes widened, and he looked away almost immediately, the reaction confused him, had he said something wrong. He couldn't think of anything that he had said that would cause Potter to be.. flustered, perhaps Potter saw someone in the mirror that he desired, but he was only eleven, most likely a school boy crush, was Potter already hooked on that Chang girl.

"Nothing." Potter mumbled and then looked back at him.

"What did you see?" Draco stopped for a moment, should he tell Potter, of course he couldn't tell Potter the whole thing, that would raise more questions that he couldn't answer.

"I saw, myself, any my family, happy." Draco stopped at that, there was no reason to elaborate, he would let Potter come to his own conclusions, that would be best.

"Oh." Potter still looked confused.

"But then why were you crying?" Another question, and another fake answer.

"My family is not, happy, often." Draco looked away, that was a lie, at least for this year, their family was a happy one, at least until fourth year, that was when everything went downhill, but Potter didn't need to know that.

"Oh." Potter said again, with a different look in his eyes this time, was it pity this time? Draco scowled at that, he didn't like having anyone's pity.

Potter was looking at him, and Draco was suddenly aware of how unnaturally green Potter's eyes were, how much pigmentation did the boy have? Draco felt his cheeks getting hot, but he didn't know why, he wasn't embarassed, was he? Draco cleared his throat, trying to break the awkward eye contact.

"We should probably get back to our dorms." Potter looked like he wanted to say something, he opened his mouth and closed it repeatedly, looking like a fish, that made Draco think of a fish with Potter's face, making him smile, it was a bit childish, yes, but Draco didn't care, it was nice to laugh at such small things.

Potter giggled along with him, even though he didn't know what they were laughing about, perhaps his laugh was contagious. Potter snorted and Draco went into fullblown laughter, Potter followed him soon after, it was weird, not less than half an hour ago, he was crying, and now, he was laughing, but he didn't feel like thinking about it.

Draco decided that he liked this Potter.

*************


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, big Author's note here, it is **IMPORTANT**.
> 
> Draco _will_ be able to change the timeline, fixed points do not mean that he is unable to change anything. A fixed point is the universe building the basis for that line, and since this is a branch of the main line, certain things have to stay the same to make up the context of that universe.
> 
> Since Malfoy would be unable to do things like steal Neville's remembrall, Nott had to take his place, to make up the foundation so that new things could happen. Nott is his own person, he will do things differently than Malfoy because they have different moral compasses. 
> 
> Because of this, Nott will of course do certain things that Malfoy did, but not all of them, because he is his own person. Draco will be able to change things because Draco is a different person, there is nothing stopping him from changing things because things changed the moment he arrived in that line, because the butterfly effect took place as soon as Draco uttered the words not Slytherin under the hat.
> 
> \---------------------------------------------------

Draco stood outside Dumbledore's office, he had been instructed to come here before any of his classes. 

Draco swallowed, he was just a tad bit afraid, even though he had thought of every scenario and had thought of every appropriate response to it, but he was still nervous, his mind was just like that, starters like _if_ plagued his mind, _if_ Dumbledore had figured it out, then what? _If_ Dumbeldore had come to his own conclusion, a completely wrong one, then what?

But he knew that it was unlikely. 

Dumbledore had a habit of not asking people questions and just thinking of the answer himself, although he supposed this Dumbledore could be a bit different from the Dumbledore that he knew, Merlin he hoped he was, but at the same time he hoped he wasn't, Draco didn't handle change well, it messed him up, he had learned that about himself when he had found out that he was a Veela and that he was a Seer.

Speaking of Veela, Draco had decided that he wasn't going to take his suppressants anymore, they always made him feel horrible, like he was locking away a part of himself, like he was shaving off all of his hair and tucking it away in a drawer and putting a lock on it, it made him feel bare, naked, and he hated it.

He could see changes in himself already, his eyes had become more blue, like the sky on a sunny day, his hair had become more white and fine, and when he raked his hand through it, it felt like he was touching a cloud, his skin had become softer, like silk, and his teeth had become as white as paper.

But Draco knew that this was only a few of the changes to come, soon his hair would start growing madly, cutting it would be useless, and his voice would become 'as soft as silk' as people had put it, how one's voice could replicate a texture, Draco did not know, but he did have a faint idea of what it would be like, given the fact that he had heard his voice multiple times in his full Veela.

There were multiple advantages of this form, but the one that was most prominent for a eleven year old was that he could appear as a scared child in front of the older witches and wizards that would no doubt be inside the headmasters office, a boy who didn't know what was happening and what was going on with his body.

Draco cringed at the analogy he had made, had he just referred to himself becoming a Veela much like the sexual education teachers had taught puberty to them?

Draco held his breath as he walked into the office once again, almost two months after he had fainted inside of it, that thought brought another one into Draco's mind, he had stayed at the castle during Winter break, the first time he had ever done so. 

"Professor." He nodded at both Professor McGonagall and Professor Snape who were standing beside Dumbledore, talking to him, all except Dumbledore seemed startled at the new voice.

"Draco, so glad you were able to join us." Dumbledore threw out his arms, the familiar twinkle brought a reluctant smile to Draco's face.

"Of course, Headmaster, if you hadn't called me down, I probably would have come here myself. Speaking of coming here, I had a question.." Draco let himself trail off and looked away, seemingly nervous (he was, but not about what they were thinking).

"Ask away, my boy." Dumbledore smiled.

Draco appeared to hesitate for a moment, before looking back at them.

"Things have been changing, with me, my hair's softer than ever, my eyes are more blue, even my skin's softer, what's happening to me?" All three of their eyes widened and Draco had to suppress a smirk, they had connected the dots.

"It would be better, if you took a seat, Mr. Malfoy." Snape suggested.

Draco did as he was told, but the other didn't sit down, had Snape made him sit down because he thought what he was about to tell him would be too much for him? A silly thought, even as an eleven year old he wouldn't think he would have, what, _fainted_ , is that what they expected him to do?

"I believe that you are turning into a Veela." McGonagall spoke.

Draco appeared to look both shocked and mortified. 

"A Veela? But that's not possible, Veela's are more commonly seen in females, and even then they're rare, most Veela's today only have 1/4 of the gene-" McGonagall lifted up her hand with a slightly impressed look on her face, maybe Draco shouldn't had spat out that bit of knowledge, but he couldn't help himself.

"Male Veela's are not uncommon, Mr. Malfoy, especially in families as old as your's." The others nodded along with her.

"I'm a Veela." Draco breathed out, as if testing the sentence out, as if trying to convice himself this was real. 

Draco felt a bit of pride, they were believing him, he really was a good actor. 

"Mr. Malfoy, this must be a tough time for you, but we have to ask, what do you remember from your vision?" Dumbledore asked, and Draco actually did have to stop, because what did he remember? He remembered flashes of things, most of them were jewlrey, except for a cup, Potter had mentioned something, but Draco couldn't remember, he barely remembered anything Potter had said, it was if the memories were leaving him, and he didn't like that.

"Jewlrey." He spoke truthfully, because he saw no advantage in lying and no consequence in telling the truth.

They all seemed confused, and Draco knew that he would have to explain.

"Flashes of Jewlrey, a golden cup, a green necklace, and a blue tiara." Yellow, Green, Blue, there was something connected to Yellow Green Blue-

_The founders!_

He didn't know what they had to do with this, but he knew that those colors represented the founders, there was nothing else that made sense with them, it was a stretch, he knew that, but it felt right, and when something felt right, he didn't ignore it.

But the ring, what was the ring, all he knew about the ring was that Dumbledore couldn't wear it, he couldn't.

"Fascinating." Dumbledore breathed out, he whipped out a peice of parchment and a quill and started writing with it. 

"Anything else?" Snape asked this time.

"No." Draco kept his answer short, there were other things, yes, but they could figure that out themselves, there were other things that Draco had to figure out right now, like how the hell he would stop Quirell, he had forgotten about him in the haze of things, but right now, shouldn't he be doing something to stop him, how did Potter do it in his first year again?

Snape narrowed his eyes, a sign that the man suspected something, he tried to get Draco to look him in the eyes, but Draco wouldn't dare, he had kept his secret for so long, he wasn't going to let a bit of mind reading stop it.

"You are avoiding me." Snape was referring to his eyes. That caught Dumbledore and McGonagalls attention.

"Most people don't like having their mind invaded, Godfather." Draco snarled, looking down, that had come out harsher than he had intended, but he didn't care, mind reading was one of his hard limits, he hated it, it made him feel bare, everything that he had ever experienced was open, like a book, and he _hated_ it.

"How do you know?" He wasn't referring to how he knew about the art of Occlumency, Severus had taught him about the art himself, he was asking how he knew that he wanted to look inside his mind.

"You can't stand not knowing things, and you do anything to make sure that you know the truth, but the flaw is that you don't trust anyone but yourself, well, you did trust me before, but that was broken when you realized that I had secrets, so, you use Legilimency to get the truth." Draco answered, there was no point in holding back, he was mad at Snape, Draco wasn't an eleven year old in mind, he knew that he was allowed to have his own secrets.

Snape looked at him, he was mad, but he didn't deny it because he knew that it was true, and so did everyone else in the room.

"I've told you everything that I know, may I leave now?" Dumbledore nodded and Draco got up, making his way to the door.

He felt Snape's eyes on him as he left

***************

"Draco!" Harry, Ron and Hermione were running up to him, well, Harry was running up to him, Ron and Hermione were running after Harry (when had he started referring to Potter as 'Harry'.)

Draco was in the great hall, everyone else had left and he was trying to get to his dorm, classes were over for the day and tomorrow he had tutoring with Flitwick, he wanted to study.

"No, Harry we can't tell him!" Ron whispered as Harry came to a stop right infront of him.

"No, you said it yourself, Ron, Draco's smarter than Hermione!" That caught Hermione's attention, as she stopped what she was doing and faced Ron.

" _What?_ " She hissed, and Weasley recoiled, letting go of Harry's arm.

"Draco, we need your help, we think Snape's gonna steal something from the third floor." Harry whispered.

"Snape?" Draco said in a small voice, Severus was going to steal something this year, no, it couldn't be, he wouldn't, Harry must have gotten something wrong.

"Yeah, remember when you saved us from the Troll, Snape had a big scratch on his leg." 

"What does that have to do with anything?" Draco hadn't seen a scratch, he was too busy worrying about getting caught.

The three looked at each other, what had they done without him?

"Well, we snuck out of our dorm to duel Nott, right? And we kinda bumped into a three-headed-dog." Harry's voice got softer as he went on.

As for Draco, he looked like a fish, opening and closing his mouth, thoughts and emotions reeled through his head, but two things stuck out, 

1: Why the fuck did Dumbledore have a Cerberus in a school full of children?  
2: Why did he feel worried for Potter? 

If anything, he should be worried about Granger, but no, he was worried about Potter, because he knew his track record, absolutely no self-preservation this one. 

The words were out of Draco's mouth before he even had time to process them, "Are you okay?" He grabbed Harry by the shoulders and looked at him, as if looking for wounds, even though he knew that there would be none, because this probably happened weeks ago, there would be no wounds, so why was he still looking.

"Draco! I'm fine." Harry looked like a tomato and Draco was even more worried, was Harry sick?

"Look, Snape tried to kill me during the Quidditch match-" Wait, Quidditch match? Had that happened already, he hadn't known, and wait, did he just say that Snape had tried to _kill_ him?

"What?" He burst out.

"Remember, the match, we had asked you to come but you had said that you were busy?" Harry looked confused.

Was that what Potter was on about that day, he hadn't been listening, he was too busy with his prophesy work.

"Oh, yeah." 

"Snape hexed my broom." 

"Hex? But he wouldn't-"

Hermione interrupted him, "Draco, I know that you're close with Snape, but he's not who you think he is, I didn't want to tell you 'cause I knew that it would hurt your feelings, but you have to believe us."

Draco didn't, sure, Snape could be a prat, but he would never try to kill Harry (at least not in broad daylight).

"We need you to help us, we already went to Hagrid, and he let slip something about Nicolas Flamel." 

Draco's train of thought crashed and burned, _Nicolas Flamel_ , the Nicolas Flamel who was the man behind time travel, that Nicolas Flamel? How had he been involved in the golden trio's lives? Did he play an even bigger role than Draco had thought?

"See? He has his thinking face on, he knows something!" Harry smiled smugly at Hermione and Ron.

"I'm telling you Harry, I've searched the whole library and I can't find a single book that mentions hi-"

"That's because I have it."


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have to admit, first year is definitely my least favorite. 
> 
> Probably because I am absolutely ecstatic to write 2nd-4th year, because there are so many things that I have planned for them, but 4th year's plan might have to be pushed to 5th.
> 
> You'll all be pretty surprised by it, that I'm sure of.
> 
> Also, I'm sorry that all my chapters are unbeta'ed, my Beta is, of course, in Quarantine and we only ever Beta our chapters together.

The four of them were in Draco's dorm, on a school night, as Hermione had put it, it was 'absolutely inappropriate' to be in anothers dorm on a schoolday, but she had to admit that she was excited to see the book, to see who Nicolas was, it had been eating at her.

"Here it is." Draco put the huge book on his bed, he had taken it out of the library to study Seer's, Nicolas was a great man, he had done research on almost everything, and Seers was one of them, and he did want to study up on Veela's just a bit.

Speaking of Veelas, he was showing even more now, his hair had been growing and was now resting at his shoulders, he knew that in a week or two, it would be at mid-length, he would probably tie his hair into a ponytail when that happened, it was one of his favorite styles.

He flipped through the book and got to the page that focused on Nicolas Flamel, before he could say anything, Hermione had already found it.

"There! Nicolas Flamel is the only known maker of the Philosopher's Stone!"

"The what?" Harry and Ron spoke in unison.

"Don't you two read?" Hermione looked at them as if they were idiots, and Draco couldn't help but feel the same way,

"The Philosopher's stone is a legendary substance with astonishing powers, it'll transform any metal into pure gold, and produces the elixir of life, which will make the drinker immortal." Draco spoke.

"Someone's a little starstruck?" Ron teased him, and he _was_ , he adored the man.

"Shut up. The only stone currently in existence belongs to Nicolas Flamel, who last year celebrated his 665th birthday! That must be what you both are looking for." Draco spoke while he closed the book.

"See, all it took was one trip to Draco and he figured out what we've been trying to for months!" Harry looked at him, now he was the one who was starstruck, and Draco couldn't help but blush, he loved compliments.

"Come off it you two, listen Draco, I know you've got a thing with Flitwick soon, we'll come to you when we need your help, alright?" Ron asked him, and it wasn't alright, Draco wanted to ask them about Snape, had his own Godfather really tried to murder Harry, no, that couldn't be true because he was still a teacher in the original timeline! It had to be Quirell, but how had they managed to fuck that up.

"Yeah, it's fine." Draco murmured, suddenly aware of the fact that he _did_ have a session with Flitwick soon, the man had been practically giddy to start teaching him, especially when Dumbledore had told the little man that he was presenting as a male Veela, apparently, Flitwick loved the magic behind Veela's, and Draco knew the man would be absolutely heartbroken if he didn't show up, he was starting to think he was his favorite student.

Draco jumped off the bed and made his way out of the dorm, Flitwick had told him that he didn't need to bring any books, so he didn't, it felt weird not having anything on him, but he also found himself looking foward to the tutoring session. Flitwick had always been praised for his skill in dueling, and now he wanted to teach Draco how to do it, he may have been sorted into Ravenclaw this time, but nothing could take away his hunger for power, it came with the hunger for knowledge. 

He was so lost in thought that he didn't even notice he had made it to the classroom already, he only noticed when he bumped into the closed door. He looked around to make sure no one saw that (he hated humiliation with a passion), fortunately, no one did.

Right when he was about to knock on the door, Flitwick opened it, and Draco started at seeing how happy the man was, yes, it was normal to see the man in his usual happy mood, he had never seen the man this happy and excited. 

Knowing that he was the reason Flitwick was this happy brought a small smile to his face -he had a heart- which turned into a full blown one when he heard what the man said,

"My favorite student!" Flitwick squeaked, making sure no one overheard him, he didn't want to hurt any other Ravenclaw's feelings, but he couldn't help it, Mr. Malfoy _was_ his favorite student, he was so eager to learn, more eager than any of the other Ravenclaws, and applied himself in all subjects, he was a generalist, not a specialist, and he respected that.

And yes he had done what no one else had and had done a non-verbal spell in his first year, but they didn't need to talk about that, there were other things that Flitwick liked about him, he was nothing like how his father had been in school, and while he tried to keep himself from prejudice, he couldn't have helped being surprised at the young man's attitude towards everyone.

"Come inside, come inside!" Flitwick ushered him inside, closing the door as soon as he stepped in.

"Dumbledore has told me that you've been presenting as a Male Veela." He didn't even try to keep the excitement out of his voice.

"Yes, sir." He responded and Flitwick squealed.

"Remarkable." He breathed out.

"There hasn't been a Male Veela in over a century Mr. Malfoy, you are very lucky to be presenting." Flitwick got a book from his shelf, he breathed out on it and a cloud of dust formed, it looked like a very old book.

"This is completely optional, but I would like you to read this book, it focuses on Male Veela." He handed Draco a maroon colored book, in big gold letters, it read,

_Veela: The ones with Male Anatomy_

Draco recognised the author, he had passed away in his timeline in Draco's 4th year, a sad sight, but Draco hadn't known him then, perhaps he would be able to meet him now, perhaps.

"Of course I will." Draco took the book and wished he had his bag, it was a weird thing to like, but he liked it when he had a bag full of books in his arms, he liked the weight of it pulling him down. 

Instead, he put it on a desk near him.

"Mr. Malfoy, I can already tell that your hair is growing in quite fast." Draco knew that his hair was growing at a faster rate than any non-veela's would, but that was to be expected, it normally stopped growing at about mid-length.

"I think that the Allure will present during your fourth year, you will need to be careful then." The smile momentarily disappeared from Flitwicks face and his eyes darkened, Draco didn't interrupt but he knew what he was going to say.

"A Veelas allure is very powerfull Mr. Malfoy, the weak willed will fall prey to it, and that is a dangerous thing. People will try to touch you, and you must tell them no, some will still try, if they do then you are free to use as much magical force is necessary to get them off. I do not want you to feel guilty about hurting them, while yes the Allure will be strong, it is not unfightable, and only those that want to give in, will."

Draco hadn't known that, his Allure had only shown itself in his sixth year, and that had been quite an... experience. Many people had tried, but Draco had managed to get away, he didn't know that people were able to fight it, perverts.

Draco had enough experience dealing with creeps before he had presented, and being a Veela didn't exactly help to ward any of them away.

"If one of the students tries, I want you to report it to me immediately." Flitwick had taken an authoritave tone of voice, he seemed rather serious about this, and Draco liked it, Flitwick was a nice man, strict, but nice.

Draco glanced at the book on the desk, he knew that there were things that he didn't know about Veela, and he was excited to learn about them, if he didn't know about the ability of fighting the Allure, he could only think about how many things he could learn from that book. 

The thought of learning more sent a thrill down Draco's spine, with knowledge came power, and he did like power, just not in the megolomaniac kind of sense.

"Yes, sir, I most certainly will, but I was wondering if you could teach me how to do more non-verbal spells." The smile was back on Flitwick's face, and before he knew it, he was learning all sorts of spells.

**************

Months passed, and Draco didn't hear much of the Quirrel/Snape story, he had tried inquiring about it, but he was blown off by Weasley, and he had to admit that it hurt, but he didn't let it get to him, he knew that if things got too bad or they couldn't figure something out, they would come to him, or at least, he hoped so.

He had been having weird interactions with Potter, it seemed that Potter couldn't get over his shyness around him, he was rather bipolar, sometimes he didn't talk at all and looked as red as a tomato, and other times, he was telling everyone about how smart Draco was.

They had been hanging out more frequently lately, studying together, where Draco desperately tried to teach Potter how to do the simplest of potions, and he did, of course, fail at that, but he was determined to teach Potter how to pay attention in potions. 

Those sessions normally ended in them bickering.

Draco's hair had now grown out fully, and he recived many questions about it, but he had blown them away, eleven year olds were very gullible, it was the upper years that he had to actually bulllshit his way through.

Many sessions with Flitwick had him quickly rising above his peers in charms, he had turn down all the other teachers offers to tutor him, while he did want to take it, he knew that if he did, he would be being too much of a prodigy, and he didn't want to attract too much attention to himself.

And yet, here he was, standing outside Hagrid's hut, where Harry had dragged him, not telling him why they were going there, staring at a Dragon egg in shock.

"Where did you even get a Dragon Egg, Hagrid?" He asked the half-giant in shock, they were illegal here, but that didn't bother him, what bothered him was that Hagrid's house was built out of wood, and fire and wood didn't exactly combine well, he had grown to actually like the half-giant and his horrible baking skills, he didn't want to see him standing outside his burning house one day, weeping.

"Bought 'em off a fellow at the three broomsticks." Hagrid spoke in his accent.

"You just, bought a Dragon egg from someone?" Hagrid shurgged.

Hermione and Ron were there as well, but they were too busy insepcting the egg, he still didn't know why he was here.

"Why am I here?" He voiced his question.

"We're taking the egg to Ron's brother, Charlie, we have to take the egg to the Astronomy tower and give it to Charlie." Hermione answered him, Draco cringed at the mention of the tower, terrible memories had taken place there, and the simple thought of going there made him sick.

"You can take the Dragon there, I'll be on guard duty." Hermione seemed confused, but she didn't protest, she merely nodded, and since they were all there, Draco decided to voice another question of his.

"Why didn't you do anything about the whole, Nicolas Flamel thing?" Hagrid started,

"How'd yeh figure that out?" He boomed, and Hermione desperately tried to shush him.

"We're not idiots, Hagrid." Draco told him calmly, they couldn't avoid his question now, they would have to answer.

"We're thinking about what you said, you know, with Snape." Ron whispered, but Hagrid still overheard.

"I've told yeh, Snape had nothing ter do with this, he doesn't even know how to calm Fluffy down, he never did like classical music!" Hagrid seemed dead set on defending Snape's honor, while Hermione was still trying to keep him quiet, she never did know when things were hopeless.

Wait, had Hagrid just revealed how to get past that three headed dog, Draco would need to remember that.

"That's what I said, Hagrid, nice to know that you actually take my word seriously." Draco nodded at them, impressed, he had figured out that it was Quirell, and he was glad that they were actually caring about what he said.

"Of course we do, you're a genius, Draco!" Harry told him, looking at him as if it was obvious. 

A strange warmth filled his chest, he always did like when Harry complemented him, but for some reason, his heart sped up when Harry did it, it didn't speed up for anyone else, just Harry, maybe he had a heart condition.

"Can we actually get this Dragon to the tower now?" Hermione asked him, Hagrid had quieted down now, but only because Hermione had told him to, he still looked like he had a lot to say.

Draco nodded at her, and they all got under Harry's invisiblity cloak.

***********

_Fucking. Nott._

The Dragon probably in Romania by now, and here _he_ was, in trouble because of fucking Nott, and his fucking tattle tail arse. 

He was going to castrate Potter for making him go in the forbidden forest again.

***********


	8. Chapter 8

_"Draco."_ Harry whined again, Draco wasn't talking to him, and by the looks of it, he didn't plan to for quite some time. The thought hurt Harry, he wanted Draco to _talk_ to him again, he would even take the insults that seemed to come after every sentence with him.

Somehow, Nott had found them, Nott was the reason Draco wasn't talking to him, he didn't know for sure, but Harry thought that the Forbidden Forest scared the blond. He didn't need to be afraid, Harry would protect him. 

There it was again, the overwhelming need to protect Draco, to make sure he was safe, at first, Harry had thought that he and Draco were just close friends, like Ron and Harry were, but he didn't feel the same way with Ron. Every time Draco complimented him, he felt something bloom in his chest, every single act of staggering genius made Harry bloom. 

He had asked Hermione, hoping for answers, but she had just laughed and patted him on the back, giving him a look. Harry was never good at figuring out what Hermione's looks meant. Harry remembered the shows that he had seen when he had peaked a look at the telly, stories of a woman and a man falling in love, maybe it was the same with them-

But, the telly had never shown a man and a man falling in love, he had never seen it in real life either, was it even an option, or was he just a _freak_ for thinking that it was, was that why Hermione had laughed, laughed at him?

 _Freak_. 

The word echoed inside the young Potter's mind, and he started to hyperventilate. Draco stopped, he no longer heard the sound of footsteps behind him, he looked around and saw the lamp that Harry was holding on the floor, he was breathing much too quickly, and Draco hated to admit that he was worried.

Speedwalking over to Potter, Draco started to do what he thought would calm him down, rubbing his back and whispering in his ear, like his mother had done for him when he had nightmares,

"Don't worry, it's okay." Draco continued to rub circles on Harry's back, it was a tad bit awkward, but he could get through that. 

He only stopped when he saw that Harry had stopped breathing so fast and was looking at him, a small smile on his lips and his face red with embarrassment. 

"Thanks." Potter whispered.

Draco nodded, his previous anger towards Potter had dissipated somewhat, he knew he was being irrational, but it was normal for him to just blame Potter for things. But this wasn't Potter, it was Harry, and blaming Harry for things wasn't right.

"Are you still mad at me?" Harry asked. 

"No." Draco answered slowly, it was weird, everything in him told him to scream 'yes, Potter, of course I'm mad at you!', but he knew that it was wrong to scream at _Harry_.

He didn't know how that made sense, but it did. 

"Good." Harry smiled, seeming to forget about his -what would you even call it- panic attack? 

"Yeah, good." Draco nodded, picking up the abandoned lamp and handing it to Harry, who took it, not even paying attention to what Draco was putting in his hands.

"Hey, Dray, Hermione, Ron and I wanted to tell you this after we got rid of the dragon, but you know.." He trailed off, but Draco got the idea.

"Um, we're going to break into a room." Draco halted. 

"What room?" 

"The one on the third floor." The forbidden one.

"Could you come with us?" Harry looked at him.

"Yes." Draco didn't have to think, he would finally figure out what had happened during first year and why Potter had gotten so many house points, it clearly had something to do with Quirell, but he didn't know what, he didn't know what the man was hiding, just that he wasn't who he seemed to be.

"Really?" Potter seemed surprised, why would he think that Draco wouldn't come along? 

"Yes, but, a question, why do you want to break into the room?" 

"Well, Snape's gonna try to steal it." 

"Snape?" Draco raised an eyebrow, had they already jumped to that conclusion, Draco thought that they were thinking about what he had said.

"Sorry, Dray, but it makes sense that it's Snape, I mean, he already tried to steal it, good thing Fluffy was there." Harry seemed set on convincing him it was Snape, Draco opened his mouth to tell him about how wrong he was, but suddenly, he was overwhelmed with dread.

It was so sudden that he dropped his lamp. Death, an aura of death was coming closer, no, they were coming closer to him, why was he walking, he didn't want to walk that way, he wanted to run away, _run away_ -

He gasped as a figure came into view, a person, standing over a dead Unicorn, such a magnificent creature, dead, the sight hurt him, but he was too focused on the figure in front of him, someone covered in a cloak. He felt like he recognised him, his mind was screaming at him to remember, but it wasn't letting him remember-

Another gasp, this time, not his, it was Harry's, the figure spun around, just noticing them. It ignored Draco, instead, it got up and made its way towards Harry. _No-_

Something jumped out of the bushes, half man, half horse, a centaur. 

The dread was still there, but it was bearable, he looked over at Harry and saw him clutching his scar, his eyes wide, something was wrong, something about that _thing_ was wrong, something more, something that Draco knew, but couldn't put his finger on, the frustration started to build up inside him, and he grabbed his hair, desperately trying to remember, pulling at it, remember _remember_ -

"Harry Potter." The Centaur's voice brought him back, they both spun around to look at their savior (the irony of the savior being saved was not lost on him).

"You must leave-" He cut himself off when his eyes landed on Draco.

"You..were not meant to be here." The ~~Centaur~~ \- the name Firenze flashed in his head, a small vision, his name must be Firenze, Firenze started walking over to Draco, fascination in his eyes.

Shit, he had forgotten that Centaur's were natural born Seer's, it was abnormal for them _not_ to be, as opposed to the Wizards normal. Harry looked at him in confusion and fear, he didn't understand, and frankly, Draco didn't understand either.

"Well, I am." Draco started to back away as Firenze grew closer.

"They are not meant to work-" He cut himself off yet again, looking at him intently. 

"You were given the gift." Firenze stated matter-of-factly. Harry was looking him again, but this time, he came closer and positioned himself in between Firenze and Draco.

"Get away from my friend!" Draco had to keep himself from laughing at Harry's stance, he puffed out his chest, trying to make himself look bigger given his scrawny figure.

"Harry Potter, you must leave here, you are in great danger." Firenze addressed Harry this time, but his eyes never left Draco's. Harry opened his mouth to say something, but Draco grabbed his wrist to stop him.

"Come on, Harry, let's go, we already did what Hagrid wanted us to do, we found the person drinking the Unicorn blood." Firenze winced at the Unicorn blood, Draco felt much the same way and had to steady himself while thinking about it, Unicorns were so pure and light that the mere thought of hurting one made him sick.

Hary looked like he wanted to protest, but Draco started dragging him back to where he thought the exit was, he wanted to get out of this blasted forest already, he hated it here. 

Harry didn't try to break out of Draco's grasp, which Draco thought was strange, but he was too focused on getting him out of here, this place screamed danger.

****************

They hadn't spoken about what Firenze had said in the forest, but he had caught Harry looking at him strangely throughout the day, but he didn't think it too out of the ordinary, Harry often looked over at Draco.

When classes were over for the day, someone grabbed his arm, forcing him inside an abandoned classroom.

"We need to tell McGonagall." Was the first thing he heard, it was Hermione's voice.

"Yeah." Ron agreed with her (as always).

Harry had grabbed his arm, and was taking a bit of time to let go, Draco tugged his arm a bit, and he let go immediately, looking apologetic. 

"What are we doing, and why did you stuff me inside a dusty old classroom?" Draco was slightly annoyed, and he made sure it spilt into his tone. 

Hermione looked over at him, "Snape's gonna steal the stone today." 

"It's not Sn-" Draco closed his mouth, realizing that it was pointless. 

"Fine, let's tell McGonagall." Draco would love to see how this would turn out, if they weren't going to listen to him, he wasn't going to suggest his brilliant ideas anymore, that would teach them.

Weasley put his hand on Draco's shoulder, "Knew you would come around, mate." 

It still confused Draco how suddenly Weasley's attitude changed towards him, he still wondered whether the Weasel had ulterior motives, but he knew it was unlikely, maybe he really could just become friends with anyone, didn't know it did that.

They walked out of the dusty old classroom, and made their way towards McGonagall's office, Draco had to keep his lips pursed to prevent himself from ranting to them about how bad this idea was, Hermione was a smart person, but this was stupid, did she really think a 60 year old witch like McGonagall would listen to eleven year old children. Perhaps all that praise was going to Hermione's head.

They stood outside her office, she was walking out of it, writing on a few peices of paper.

"Professor!" Hermione yelled.

"Yes, Ms. Granger?" McGonagall barely finished her sentence before Hermione blurted out, 

"Someones going to take the Philopheser's stone tonight!" She yelled, and McGonagall's papers fell out of her hands, she looked at them in shock.

"And, pray tell, how do you know about the stone?" 

"That doesn't matter, we need to tell Dumbledore." 

"Dumbledore is out on emergency Ministry business today." McGonagall narrowed her eyes, looking at Draco.

"Mr. Malfoy." McGonagall raised an eyebrow, why was she-

_Oh._

He could play this off as a seer vision, couldn't he? He opened his mouth to tell her that it was, but the words wouldn't come out, he could say anything else, but not that it was a vision, he tried, but they wouldn't come out, why wouldn't they come out?

He closed his mouth and decided on a neutral answer, he shrugged. 

McGonagall looked at all of them for a minute, and then, she walked away.

"How could she-" Hermione was left there, stumped.

"She wouldn't believe a bunch of little kids, Hemione." He told her, not focusing on them, he was still confused and shocked about what had happened, he couldn't speak, why couldn't he speak about it? Did he break some sort of Seer rule? There was only one person he could ask about this,

Professor Trewlaney. Ron looked at them, his eyes lit with determination,

"If she won't help us, we need to stop Snape ourselves."


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello to my lovely readers, you might have noticed that I extended the story ending by, about...41 chapters.
> 
> I am sorry for not updating recently, I've kinda been down these past couple days and have been reading up on a few Drarry fics, guess who just found a 3 million words slow burn canon rewrite?
> 
> This fic got so much more love than I had ever thought of it, my plan changed for it, normally I wing my fics with a general understanding of what I'm doing, but now, everything's going to be a lot more planned, I've planned up to 4th year. 
> 
> You are _so_ going to hate Theodore Nott in fifth year, that I can promise you.

Potter, Granger and Weasley were idiots. 

They hadn't even thought of a way past the three-headed beast, they were _so_ lucky that Draco was here, but he was still tempted to let them die, he could blame it on the dog.

Draco held the flute he had nicked from Hagrid's hut, and started to play it, there was a harp that had been enchanted to play there, but it had stopped abruptly, that was when Draco had whipped out the flute and had started blowing on it like there was no tomorrow.

It took a second, but soon, Fluffy was fast asleep, and Draco's lungs felt like someone had punched him in the lungs. 

"We should get into the trapdoor-" Ron was opening the trap door, making his way down, but Draco had no interest in staying with the damn beast, he pushed Weasley out of the way and jumped down, he was soon followed by Ron, Harry and Hermione, he tried to move, only to have something wrap around his arm.

"What is this?" Draco whispered, trying to free his hand, he and Hermione may have been calm, but Ron and Harry weren't.

"I can't move!" Ron yelled, struggling against the plant. A closer look at it and Draco knew exactly what it was,

"Devil's snare." He spoke to himself, he had learned about it in Herbology, a deadly plant.

"Stop struggling!" Hermione yelled at all of them, even though Draco was moving the least out of all of them.

"Are you crazy?" Ron yelled at her. But Hermione was right, there was no way to get out of here, even a full-grown wizard wouldn't be able to get through this with their wand, the only reasonable thing to do was stay still. 

Hermione sat ramrod straight, and was immediately sucked through the wall of plants, Draco followed soon after her.

"Hermione!" Ron yelled at the same time as Harry yelled, "Draco!", were those dunces even listening to them, Hermione had said stay still and yet they were struggling like fishes out of water.

"Stop moving!" Hermione yelled again, when Draco remembered, that he was, in fact, a wizard, who knew how to do spells.

Draco pointed his wand at a part of the Snare, and yelled _"Lumos Maximo!"_.

The plant shrieked as it let go of Ron and Harry, Devil's Snare hated the sunlight after all. Harry and Ron fell on their arse's but were otherwise unscathed, that was good. Hermione smiled at him,

"Good job, Dray." Why did people insist on shortening his already 2 syllables long name? But he did blush at the compliment, not as heavily as he would from one related to his intelligence, but he did have a praise kink nonetheless.

"Thank, Hermione." He nodded. Then he looked over at Ron and Harry who were still on their arse's, did they need someone to tell them to get up, or did they just want to fall asleep here because Draco had absolutely no objections to that idea, let it be a lesson for making him bust a lung while trying to lullaby a three-headed monster to sleep. 

"You're always saving our arse, Draco." Ron said, but he didn't see how that was true, this was the first time he had saved Ron and Harry from any life-threatening situation.

"Now get _off_ of your arse, Weasley, we do have other things to do." Draco started walking forward, Hermione was right next to him, he had to admit that he was curious about what the next thing they had to face would be. 

He was surprised to see a racing broom (a rather ancient one), and a flurry of keys with wings flying above them. It looked oddly pleasing, he liked the little humming sounds the sentient keys made. Ron and Harry were right behind them, Ron was looking at the keys while Harry was staring at the broom. Draco looked over at Harry, a glint in his eyes, 

"Well, it's your time to shine, Mister youngest seeker in a century." Draco gestured to the broom. Harry turned scarlet in embarrassment, looking at the broom and then looking at the keys,

"What are we even supposed to do with the keys?"

Hermione looked over at the door, " You put the key in the door to unlock it, Harry." Hermione snickered, apparently, Harry hadn't noticed the big, and locked door. Harry looked over at the door and sighed, walking over to the broom. 

Draco was surprised, he had expected at least a tad bit more resistance from him, but he didn't dwell on it. He looked over at Ron, expecting him to be thinking the same, but he was greeted with a knowing smirk, that scared him, _Weasley_ , knowing something? 

As soon as Harry touched the broom, all the keys started swarming him, "Which one do I get?" He yelled in panic.

"The one with the broken wing!" Hermione pointed at said key, it wasn't as in rhythm as all the others were.

"This complicates things a bit." Weasley swallowed.

"You think?" Draco looked over at him.

Harry didn't hesitate, he dove for the key, and was barely keeping up with it, finally, he caught it, but that wasn't the end, he had to use it now. The swarm was still following him but he made his way over to them,

"Catch the key!" Harry threw the key over at Draco, who caught it without much thought. He ran over to the door and shoved it into the keyhole, twisting it. Once the door opened, Harry zoomed right into it, as did everyone else once they saw that the keys were following him. 

Draco shoved the door closed and flinched away as the keys made holes in the wood, barely there, but noticeable. 

"Never again." Harry whispered looking pale, and Draco laughed.

************

Weasley was a self-sacrificing idiot, they had to play chess to get to the other room, Draco wanted to tell them what to do, but _no_ , Weasley had to take control of the situation and made himself the knight and look where that had gotten them, Weasley was about to sacrifice himself for the sake of a chess match, and they were being ridiculously sappy about it.

"Check." The Weasley boy breathed out, looking at Harry, Hermione was looking at him as well, Merlin why were they both scared, it wasn't like it sliced him in half.

The Queen moved forward slowly, and when it finally reached him, it lifted its spear and swung it into the knight, causing it to break into millions of pieces, Weasley collapsed to the floor.

"Ron!" Harry screamed, looking close to tears. Draco scoffed.

Hermione rushed to help him but was stopped when Harry yelled, "No! Don't move, don't forget, we're still playing." He looked calculating, for Merlin's sake, it was just one more move, there was nothing else to even think about, there was no reason to be making such a big fuss. 

Draco walked over to the king and yelled, "Checkmate!" And the sword fell. 

Now, Hermione rushed over to help Ron. Harry looked over at her, "You help Ron, Draco and I will stop Snape." He spoke gallantly, Harry was really working himself up. Hermione nodded and continued to try and help Ron, Harry tugged him along and they made their way to the door, slowly creeping in. 

They made their way down into a hallway, lit with torches, and a man stood in front of the Mirror of Erised, a man, who was not Severus Snape.

"Professor Quirrell." Harry breathed out, looking at the man in betrayal.

"Harry Potter." The older man didn't turn around, instead, he kept on looking in the mirror. 

And then, they heard a voice, _"Harry Potter"_ , it whispered. 

_"I want to see him."_ It whispered in its sickly hoarse voice. 

"Master, you are not strong enough." Quirrel talked to himself. 

_"Show me the boy!"_ The voice said, this time much harsher. 

Quirrel started unwrapping his turban, revealing a shrivelled up looking face that was attached to the back of his head, the face of Voldemort, he looked - he looked so weak. He heard Harry inhale beside him, he held his scar again, looking at Draco in worry. 

Draco was afraid. 

He had known that Quirrel was the bad guy, he had known that he had helped Voldemort in some way this year, but he had never considered that he would have the man attached to the back of his head! 

Voldemort started saying something, but Draco wasn't listening, suddenly, pain exploded in his head, and visions of a boy, a boy who looked like Quirrel getting harassed by his peers for being quiet, he was an easy target, they had said. 

And then, another vision, this time of Quirrel yearning for power, yearning to prove himself better than those who had mocked him, yearning to be taught by The Dark Lord, to achieve the level of power that he had. 

Draco's eyes rolled to the back of his head when one last vision bombarded him, Quirrel, desperately fighting to fend Voldemort off, but he could only fight for a moment before he was controlled by Voldemort, he didn't have any say in what he could do, he couldn't even go to the bathroom by himself. 

Draco gasped as he was pulled out of his mind, and thrown back into reality. 

He was standing next to the mirror for some reason, he looked into it, and saw Harry, holding the stone. He looked at Harry, who winked at him, the stone was in his pocket. Quirrel was saying something again, but another vision, a shorter one this time, came into his mind, Harry touching Quirrel and him melting. 

Draco knew what he had to do now, he looked at Harry and then he looked at Quirrel. 

"Sorry, mate." He whispered, and before Harry could say anything, he pushed him into Quirrel. 

Immediately, the man started screeching, crying out "It burns!"

Harry looked at him, and then looked back at Quirrel, with a quick glance at his hands, he threw the stone at Draco and put his hands on Quirrel's face. 

"Master!" He cried, but Voldemort kept on telling him to get the stone, but he couldn't, he was melting, and there was nothing Voldemort could do about it. 

With one final cry, Quirrel turned to dust, and Harry turned back to Draco, a smile on his face, and Draco gave him a thumbs up while holding up the stone in his other hand. But the happiness didn't last long, a mist started to rise from Quirrel's ashes. 

And before Draco knew it, the mist was hurtling towards him, and then _pain_ , and a voice and _pain_ -

And then darkness.

*****************

Draco awoke on a hospital bed, his head was throbbing and his entire body ached, but he noticed one thing immediately, Harry, Ron and Hermione were standing by his bed, and Dumbledore was standing at the head of it. 

"Welcome back to the world of the living, Dray." Hermione punched his shoulder lightly, and it hurt, but not unbearably so. 

"Yes, hello, Mister Malfoy." Dumbledore was smiling at him, and Draco smiled back. 

"Mate, you should've seen Harry when you didn't wake up when the rest of us did, he burst into tears right there." Ron laughed. Draco looked over to see Harry was imitating a fish, while his cheeks had coloured. 

But then, Harry closed his mouth, looked at Draco and hugged him, tightly. 

"I was worried." He whispered, and Draco didn't know what to say, he was touched. 

So he hugged Harry back. 

"Headmaster-" He started, meaning to ask Dumbledore about that mist that had caused him to faint, but he was interrupted by a small man, running into the room that Draco recognized as Professor Flitwick.

"Mister Malfoy!" He ran up to him, inspecting him, and then, he let out a sigh of relief. 

"Good, you are not seriously injured." Draco chucked, the man had a fondness for him that Draco returned. 

"Here you go." Flitwick dropped a bundle of books in his arms, he had requested a few from the man, and it looked like he delivered, many of the books were about Veela and Seers, and just a few were for his own pleasure reading. 

"Thank you, Professor." Flitwick nodded at him. 

"Well, I will be leaving." Dumbledore looked at Flitwick and they both left the room, leaving Draco alone with his friends. He looked over at Ron, 

"Good job with the chess match." Ron preened under the praise and did a little mock bow, laughing. 

Hermione elbowed him and Draco turned to look at her, "And good job with the Devil's Snare, Hermione." He nodded.

Harry made an offended sound and Draco turned to him last, "And excellent job saving me, Harry." Harry's cheeks pinked at that, but it was true he had saved him, he didn't understand why he was embarrassed. 

Draco hopped off the bed, he had to see Professor Trewlaney. 

"Where are you going?" Hermione asked, and Draco turned back to her. 

"I have to go ask Flitwick something!" He lied, not wanting to explain to her why he was going to see the divination Professor when they didn't even have divination until third year.

He ran to her room only to find her waiting for him, "Mister Malfoy, I have been expecting you." She spoke in her whispy voice. 

Draco wasn't surprised, she must've had a vision. 

"Then you'll know what I want to ask you, Professor." He looked at her. 

"I'm afraid you'll have to ask me that, Draco." She smiled. 

"Why can't I change certain things, why can't I tell people that I had a vision?" He asked, looking her in the eye. She laughed softly, opening the door to let him in. 

Draco walked into the classroom and sat at her desk, she sat down at the other side, looking at him. 

"There are certain things that only a Seer can know." She started.

"Why do you think that only certain visions are spoken out loud, in places where others are? Because the universe wants them to know. Other things are left to the Seer, for them to figure out, that is when they must look to their Seer brethren for help, it is the Seer's secret, you will not be able to tell those who do not have the sight what you see unless it has been spoken out loud." 

"Then how will I-" He cut himself off, realizing that he had just been about to tell her he was from the future, he looked at her only to find her smiling. 

"I know you are from the future, Draco." She told him, and his mouth opened, how had she known? 

"I had a vision." She provided as explanation.

"I-" He didn't have any words, he didn't know what to say.

"How will you change the future? My boy, just because you are unable to _tell_ others, it doesn't mean that _you_ are unable to change them, people do not need to know for you to help them, but keep in mind, if you did not speak it out loud, then they are not meant to know."

He hesitated before speaking again, "Thank you, Professor." 

She smiled and nodded, and with that, he left the room, keeping in mind the new rules that came with being a Seer.

*****************

The Slytherin table erupted into applause when they learned that they had won, but Draco was smiling, knowing that they had not won. 

"But, it seems that I have points that I am to award." Dumbledore quieted them, and here it came, Dumbledore would give the Gryffindors points, and they would win, yes, his house wouldn't win either, but it was better than Slytherin winning, he didn't exactly have much house loyalty for them anymore. 

"To Harry Potter, for pure nerve and outstanding courage." Draco zoned out, not wanting to listen to something that he had heard before, he only paid attention when he heard his name again.

"And to Draco Malfoy, of Ravenclaw house, I award, 50 points, for intellect." Dumbledore winked at him, and Draco's jaw fell open, _50 points_ , that meant that they were in second place, no, they hadn't won, but that didn't matter.

Draco's housemates all cheered for him, even the upper years, it looked like he was accepted now, he smiled and looked over at Harry who was giving him a thumbs-up, looking elated. 

And Draco was happy.

******************

Draco Malfoy, Harry Potter, Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley stood on Platform 9 ¾. Harry was looking at them, hope in his eyes. 

"You'll all write won't you?" And Draco smiled, he looked so hopeful. 

"Of course." They all said in unison, and Harry beamed at them. 

And then Hermione yelled, "Group hug!" 

What was a group hug-

Draco didn't have time to think about, he was suddenly being squished by three eleven-year-olds, apparently, he was supposed to hug them all at the same time, it looked like that had been taken care of.

He heard someone clear their throat, they let him go and he turned around to see Lucius Malfoy glaring down at him. 

Oh yes, he had forgotten he had a father. 

He did not look happy, but Draco didn't care. 

"Draco, follow me." He commanded.

Draco looked back at his friends and waved them goodbye, he was looking forward to next year, he knew he should be worried that his father might disown him, but he wasn't, he didn't care, if Lucius disowned him, he would figure out what to do. 

Draco turned around and followed his father who was already quite a bit ahead of him, he smiled, 

Draco was happy.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, yet again to my lovely readers! I can not tell you how excited I am to write fourth year, but there are a few things that I am _so_ looking forward to writing for this year and the next. 
> 
> I just wanted to say that I love you all, and this story has received so much more praise than I had ever thought it would, I've been rewatching the movies to make everything a bit more accurate, and I just want you all to know how much I love you.

"You've been sorted into Ravenclaw," Lucius spoke once he had finished his dinner. Draco had been expecting him to bring it up sooner, but he had waited a whole week before bringing up his sorting. 

Kudos to you, Lucius. 

Narcissa sucked in a deep breath, looking at her husband and her son, she didn't care what house he was in, she just wanted them to be happy. Draco looked at his father and nodded, "Yes." 

He kept his answer short, not wanting to say more than he had to. Lucius noticed what he was doing - he wasn't an idiot - and narrowed his eyes, he was angry. 

"There hasn't been a Malfoy who wasn't in Slytherin for _generations_." He ground out, looking at Draco, expecting him to apologize, not like that would do any good, he was going to stand his ground. 

"I know, father." He agreed with him, interested in seeing where this was going. 

"Don't be a smartarse with me Draco," Lucius told him, and Draco didn't know what to say, what did Lucius want him to say, that he was sorry for being himself?

"What do you want me to say, father? I don't know why I wasn't in Slytherin." He sighed. 

Lucius bristled, looking at his only son in rage, he opened his mouth, ready to say something when Narcissa interrupted, "Lucius, darling, did you not see Draco's grades this year?" She looked at her husband sweetly. 

Lucius was distracted momentarily, "Grades?" He asked, Draco was also interested, he hadn't bothered looking at them this year, schoolwork wasn't exactly at the top of his mind.

Narcissa cleared her throat and called out, "Dobby!" 

An elf with green eyes appeared instantly, it bowed and whispered in a shaky voice, "Yes Madam Malfoy?" 

"Go get the letter that contains Draco's grades," Narcissa spoke, and the elf disappeared. 

_Dobby._

Dobby was the elf that had disappeared in Draco's second year, all he knew about him was that he had something to do with Harry Potter, and Lucius had been furious when Draco had come back from school, Draco hadn't noticed the elf was gone until Narcissa had mentioned it.

That was quite an argument, Narcissa and Lucius had broken into a screaming match right there, Draco had left, not wanting to hear it, all he knew was that it was Potter's fault somehow. 

He wondered what actually happened and if it would happen again, he would have to keep an eye on that elf. 

A pop sounded and the elf appeared again, holding out a letter with shaky hands, Narcissa grabbed it and showed it to Lucius, who started reading it out loud. 

"Potions, O. Defence Against The Dark Arts, O. Transfiguration, O. Herbology, E. Flying, O. Astronomy, E. History of Magic, E." Once he was done, he looked up at Draco, looking slightly impressed but far from satisfied. 

"These grades are satisfactory at best, I don't see why you're showing me this, Narcissa, he is still in Ravenclaw." Lucius ground out, and Draco scoffed in his head, he would never be satisfied, Draco hadn't tried his best because he didn't want to look like a prodigy, he liked the attention, yes, but too much of it would get in his way. 

"Yes, he could do better, but look at this letter his Charms Professor sent, Draco has been getting private tutoring lessons from him." Narcissa handed her husband another letter.

Lucius opened it and read aloud once again,

"Mr Malfoy, I am pleased to say that your son has become one of my favourite students in all of my year in teaching, he is exceptionally skilled and I am sure that one day he will make an extraordinary wizard. His friendship with Hermione Granger is also helping Miss Granger's grades in my class, they made a terrific duo, Headmaster Dumbledore shares my expectations for them." 

Draco felt himself smile again, Flitwick was quickly becoming one of his favourite Professors. He was so lost in thought that he almost didn't hear Lucius slamming his hand against the table, calling for attention. Draco looked at him, and his eyes widened, Lucius was no longer holding back his emotions, he was standing up, leaning over the table, his eyes wide with rage, Narcissa had also gotten up, trying to calm him down. 

"I will ask you one last time Draco. Is this Hermione Granger a _mudblood?_ " He hissed out the word, his face sneering in disgust as if saying the word brought him physical pain. 

_Shit._

Draco couldn't exactly lie about her blood status, "Yes, father." He looked down, looking Lucius in the eye would only increase his rage. 

Lucius made a sound of absolute fury, spinning around to face his wife, "I told you! We should have sent him to Durmstrang, Dumbledore has already started to corrupt his mind!" 

Narcissa looked at Draco in disappointment, it was clear that she disapproved of his choice in friends, but it looked like she still stood by her sentiments that having her child that far away would be too much for her to bear. 

"No, we will not send him to Durmstrang, I do not like him conversing with such filth, they are beneath us, Draco." She turned to face him briefly and then turned back to Lucius. 

"Figure something else out, until then, you will not yell at him, we will find a solution." Narcissa's words held a tone of finality, this conversation was over and Draco was excused, he should leave. 

Draco headed towards his room, feeling Lucius' eyes on him. 

****************

Draco was worried, Harry wasn't getting any of his letters, he had sent them, but the ones that he got back were heartbreaking, the latest one was tear-stained, and they weren't Draco's tears. 

_Draco,_

_Did I do something wrong? Please talk to me, Hermione and Ron aren't answering any of my letters, I'm sorry, whatever I did, I'm so sorry, please._

He wasn't even signing his letters anymore, Draco realized his hands were shaking. Why wasn't Harry getting any of his letters? He said that Ron and Hermione weren't writing to him either, he should owl them-

_Dobby._

The thought sprung to his mind, the elf had been acting strangely lately, Draco had been watching him. He disappeared for hours at a time and even went as far as to not answer some of their calls. That was the only thing that he could think of, it was worth a try. 

"Dobby!" He called, his suspicions were confirmed when the elf didn't appear immediately, and when he did, he was frantically shoving something in his clothing. 

"Y-Yes, young Master?" Dobby stuttered, and Draco narrowed his eyes, he didn't see what he had shoved in his sack, but he knew it was something incriminating. 

"Show me what you just put in your sack." Draco held out his hand, waiting. 

Dobby's eyes widened with fear, he looked at him and then at his hand, he resisted for so long that he started to shake, Draco knew he wouldn't resist for much longer, he just had to be patient. Dobby took something out of his sack, a _letter._

It had the Malfoy seal on it, it was the letter that Draco had just sent out.

Draco looked at Dobby and then at the letter, he wanted to be angry, but he knew that wouldn't be the right thing to do, "Dobby, why are you taking my mail?"

"Dobby needs to protect Harry Potter!" Dobby spoke in a shaky but somehow confident voice. 

"Is Harry Potter in danger?" Dobby resisted.

"Dobby, surely you've read my letters, you know that I care about Harry Potter, please Dobby, tell me if he's in danger." Draco took Dobby's hands, making him face him. 

"Young master will protect Harry Potter?" Dobby's eyes were clouded with suspicion. 

"Of course I will," Draco spoke in a tone that suggested it was stupid for him to think otherwise. 

Dobby still looked suspicious, but spoke, "Dobby cannot say, but Harry Potter is in grave danger." Dobby started looking around, 

"Young master must stop Harry Potter from going back to school!" Dobby whispered sharply.

Draco started, "I can't stop him from going back to school-" Draco was cut off, 

"Then young master cannot protect Harry Potter!" Dobby apparated away. 

"Dobby!" The elf did not come back. 

Draco yelled out in frustration, Dobby would continue taking his mail, how would he talk to Harry. Harry was a fragile boy, he overthought the smallest things and didn't think other things through, he was frustrating, but Draco had to protect him, and that meant keeping Harry happy, or at least, as happy as was possible for him. 

This year would be difficult for him, Draco remembered how people turned against him in an instant, as soon as they found out that he was a parseltongue. 

Draco racked his brain, he couldn't contact him any other way besides owl, Lucius was monitoring him like a hawk and Draco was, for lack of a better word, grounded, he couldn't leave the manor, he couldn't firecall anyone, so that meant that he couldn't firecall the Weasley's, Merlin knows what Lucius would do if he found a Weasley in his fireplace, Draco was already in enough trouble. 

Draco threw the letter on his bed and collapsed onto it with a pounding headache, he could really use one of his visions right about now.

********************

Draco was at the edge of the grounds, laying on the grass, contemplating, when he heard a freakish roar in the sky.

He opened his eyes and saw a hunk of metal hurtling towards him at a terrifying speed, he tumbled out of the way as it came to a stop right in front of him. 

"Hop in, mate! We're going on a rescue mission." A familiar voice called out, and Draco looked over to see three redheaded figures, the Weasley's. 

Draco groaned and slammed his face into the grass, mentally preparing himself for the trauma he was about to grow through being in a car with three Weasley's, two who looked exactly like each other. 

"Mate!" Ron called out again. 

"Shhh!" Draco got up. 

"Do you want my father to hear you?" Draco opened the car door and hopped in the already squished thing. 

"What even is this?" He asked. 

"A car." One of the identical Weasley's said. 

"And who are you?" He looked up at one of the Weasley's. 

"Fred." 

"And I'm George!" Another one chimed in, they both started snickering, that would be hell, figuring out their names. 

The Weasley that was in the front started to press some buttons and the 'car' started to fly, it was a bad feeling. 

"We're going to get Harry, right?" He turned to Ron. 

"Yeah." Ron nodded. 

That was all he needed to know. He looked out the window and saw watched the Manor become smaller as they rose higher. 

He was going to be in so much trouble.

*********************


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My, My, look at me, treating you all with two chapters in a row.
> 
> I am really excited for this year, can't wait to see all of your reactions to what I have planned.
> 
> Love you, darlings!

They neared the house and Draco's jaw dropped open at the sight of Harry's window covered in bars. 

"You get him." Ron opened the door as they came to a stop right outside of Harry's window. 

"Ron?" A voice called out from the window.

"Hiya Harry!" Ron chirped, and Draco nearly fainted in relief at seeing Harry in one piece, if the Muggles were outlandish enough to put _bars_ on his window, Merlin knows what they could have done to Harry himself. 

"Harry James Potter, you get your things and get in this thing right now." Draco hissed, poking his head out of the door.

"Draco!" Harry's face beamed at seeing him, and Draco's anger momentarily disappeared at seeing his face, but he shook his head, _no_ , he had the right to be angry at him.

Harry started packing up his things and Ron put a hook on the bars,

"Better stand back," Ron warned, and Harry backed up to the corner of his room.

"Let's go!" Ron ordered the twins, and they started to move backwards, the bars came off just like that, they opened the back of the 'car' for Harry to put his things into, Draco was starting to calm down when he heard someone scream, 

_"Potter!"_ Harry looked back in fear and doubled his efforts to put everything into the back.

They turned the car around and Draco held out his hand, "Come on Harry!" 

A large man came bursting through the door and Harry jumped off, Draco caught him but so did the man, "Petunia, he's escaping!"

"Well, that much is obvious!" Draco quipped, tugging at Harry's arm with all his might, the twins and Ron were helping him but the man had a good grip, Harry was like a piece of rope. 

"Let go of him you insipid Muggle!" Draco yelled.

"You and that bloody pigeon aren't going anywhere!" Did he just call an owl a pigeon? 

_Finally,_ they got Harry in the car, the man fell down into some bushes and he could hear screaming behind them, he couldn't resist saying just one more thing, 

"It's a snowy owl, you buffoon!" Draco screamed right before he closed the door. 

Harry looked at him in praise and astonishment, his glasses were crooked and his hair was more ruffled than normal. He was just about to say something when someone lifted him up, 

"What are you doing!" He hissed at the twin who was lifting him up. 

"Sorry mate, but we don't have enough room for all of you back there, you're gonna need to sit on Harry's lap." 

_"What?"_ They both said at the same time, Draco struggled but was plopped into Harry's lap nonetheless, the other didn't look happy with this, given how red his face was. 

The twins started snickering and winked at Ron for some reason, who winked back. Draco groaned; this was turning out to be quite a day; to think that just moments ago he was laying down in the soft grass, contemplating his existence, but the Weasley's just _had_ to ruin it. 

Draco realized that he was really tired. He looked at Harry, yawned, and rested his head on Harry's chest, dozing off. 

******************

Harry couldn't believe this was happening, Draco had fallen asleep on him, and it looked like he was out cold, he glared at the Weasley's, but all he got in return was laughter.

"Shhh!" Harry put a finger to his mouth, he didn't want them to wake up Draco, he already looked really tired, if the dark circles under his eyes were anything to go by. 

"Awww." The twins said in unison and Harry doubled his glare at them. 

"Be quiet." He whispered. 

They put their hands over their mouths and made a zipper motion over their lips. 

Harry put his arms around Draco and rested his head on Draco's hair which was tied up in a ponytail, it was _really_ soft. 

******************

"Wakey, wakey." Someone started slapping Draco's face lightly. 

"No." Draco yawned and pushed deeper into his pillow, it was weirdly warm and hard. 

"Draco, we're here." The person slapped him again, but lighter this time. 

Draco was awake now, he lifted his head to glare at the person in question, only to find the twins standing above him and the room lit up with sunlight, how long had he been sleeping? And why did his pillow have a heartbeat? 

He turned and jumped when he saw Harry facing him with a sheepish smile on his face, 

"Harry wouldn't let us wake you up until Mum made him, he fell asleep with you there you know, carried you to the bed and everything. We tried to put you down on the bed, but anytime you were off Harry's lap, you started to throw a fuss." Fred (or maybe George) laughed. 

Draco felt his face heating up, he had _slept_ like that. 

"Sorry Harry." Draco scrambled off his lap. 

"No, it's fine, Draco." Harry scratched the back of his neck, and Draco wanted nothing more than to be swallowed by the floor. 

"Breakfast's ready!" Fred called out, and they both left the room, Draco didn't wait long to follow them, he didn't even know where they were but he supposed it would be where the Weasley's lived.

He made his way down a flight of stairs to find the Weasley's at a table eating breakfast, Harry was right behind him as he sat down next to Ron and Harry sat down next to him. 

"Goodmorning, dearies." A woman greeted them while serving them with breakfast. 

"Goodmorning, Mrs Weasley." Harry greeted her, and Draco echoed him. 

A man came in through the door, "Morning, Weasleys!" Draco recognized him as Arthur Weasley. 

"And who might you be?" He addressed both of them as he sat down at the head of the table, Draco was appalled at the amount of talking, at the manor, they didn't talk nearly as much, or at all unless something had to be said, they did, of course, exchange pleasantries.

"Harry Potter." Arthur's eyes lit up, but before he said anything to Harry, he turned to Draco, still waiting for him to answer, 

"Draco Malfoy." He answered, and Arthur's eyes dimmed a bit, his smile faltering at the prospect of having a Malfoy in his home, Draco knew he should be offended, but he didn't mind much really. 

"You're the Malfoy Ron's told us all about?" Arthur tilted his head a bit, looking at Ron, who nodded. 

"Yes, sir." 

"He's spoken a lot about both of you." 

"All good things I hope." Draco glanced at Ron, he really didn't know what he had told them, but at least he hadn't been kicked out...yet. 

"So, Harry, tell me about muggles." Arthur ended the conversation and turned to Harry, Draco cringed at the thought of those horrible muggles who had put bars on Harry's windows, but other than that, he tuned the conversation out and focused on slowly eating his breakfast. 

*******************

"Trust us, Harry, just take a bit of floo powder and say 'Diagon Alley.'" Molly Weasley tried to encourage Harry, but he still seemed like he didn't want to, Draco rolled his eyes and chimed into the conversation. 

"I can go with him." He volunteered and all eyes turned towards him, Harry beamed and nodded. 

"All right," Molly said as she pushed them both into the fireplace. 

"Remember dear, speak _very_ clearly." Harry nodded and took a handful of floo powder, Draco silently thought that it was pretty impossible to mess up saying Diagon Alley correctly, who could mess up such a simple-

_"Diagonalley!"_

Fuck.

********************

They were spat out of a fireplace in Borgin and Burkes. Draco turned to Harry, eyes flaming, 

_"Diagonally?_ Really?" Draco hissed, Harry was covered in soot, if Harry had managed to ruin Draco's hair along with his, he would kill him. 

Harry smiled sheepishly, "She said speak _clearly_ , Potter." He helped Harry get up. 

"I tried," Harry said as they walked out of the store, they were in Knockturn Alley, as twelve-year-olds, amazing. 

A witch came up to them, "Lost?" She leered. 

Draco was about to speak up when he heard a familiar voice, "Harry? Draco? What're yeh doing 'ere." Hagrid walked down the entrance to Knockturn, looking at Harry and Draco in confusion. 

"We were trying to floo to Diagon, Hagrid, but Harry here doesn't know how to pronounce the simplest of words correctly." Draco levelled Harry with a scathing look, and relished in the way he shrunk back slightly, but seemed dead set on proving his innocence. 

"It's not that easy-"

_"Not that easy-"_

"Enough!" Hagrid interrupted them, "Let's get you both to Diagon." Hagrid led them both up the stairs, exiting Knockturn.

"Both of yeh should be careful, Knockturn Alley's full of dark wizards and witches," Hagrid told them and Draco scoffed, like he didn't know that. Hagrid stopped and turned to face him, 

"Draco, I know yer father probably took yeh ter as a kid, but I'm here to tell yeh that it's not right, you shouldn't be mingling with those folk." Hagrid faced him and gave him a whole speech, his arms crossed. 

Draco looked at Harry, who shrugged back at him. 

"Hagrid, if the place is so bad, then why were you there?" Harry asked Hagrid, and he shut down, looking at Harry, 

"Oh, I was just looking for some flesh-eating slug repellent," Hagrid said sheepishly. 

They continued to walk through Diagon, they were just getting near Flourish and Botts, when they bumped into Hermione. 

"Draco! Harry!" She smiled at them, her parents were behind her, looking at everything in wonder. 

"Hermione!" Hagrid greeted her, and she joined them in Flourish and Botts, which was unexpectedly crowded, more so than normal. 

Draco, Harry and Hermione walked to the sea of red hair and Draco tapped Molly Weasley on the shoulder, she spun around and instantly let out a sigh of relief at seeing them.

"Harry, Draco, we had hoped that you'd only gone one grate too far." Molly wrapped them both in a hug. 

Draco pushed through the crowd to see why they were there in the first place, and his heart sunk when he saw who was there. 

Gilderoy. Fucking. Lockhart. 

The fraud was back, he had to suffer another year of his 'teaching', he wanted to smash his head into the wall, repeatedly. The fraud was just in the middle of one of his ridiculous speeches when he spotted Harry, 

"Harry Potter." He breathed out and snatched Harry away from Draco, who didn't even have enough time to comprehend what was happening. 

"I am proud to announce that I will be teaching at Hogwarts this year, I will be teaching Harry Potter as his Defence Against The Dark Arts Teacher." The man proudly declared, and Harry looked like he wanted to push the man away. 

"Mr Lockhart!" A small man pushed Draco out of the way, 

"For the prophet!" He said as he snapped a photo of a smiling Lockhart and a confused looking Harry. 

"And to prove how generous of a man I am, I am giving Mr Potter my whole collection of autobiographies..for free." He took a dramatic pause in between and Draco rolled his eyes as he dropped the books in Harry's arms, who still looked confused as he made his way back to them. 

"Here Harry, I'll get them signed for you!" Molly took the books out of Harry's arms. 

"Come on, let's get the rest of our books." Draco started to say when he heard a very familiar drawl, and froze.

"Arthur." Lucius drawled, and Draco snapped his head back so fast he was surprised it didn't make a cracking noise. 

Lucius was looking around the shop and Draco didn't have a chance to hide as Lucius' eyes locked on him. 

"I should have known it was your kind that kidnapped my child." Lucius pushed Arthur to the side as he made his way towards Draco. 

Lucius stood over him, "Draco." He drawled and narrowed his eyes. 

"You scared your mother to death, she thought you ran away." Lucius raised an eyebrow. 

"She told me to give you this, a gift, for her forgiveness." Lucius handed him a book, a black leather book, it looked old and tattered, Draco opened the book only to find it empty. 

On the front, right at the bottom, it read, Tom Marvolo Riddle. 

Draco put it in his bag.


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you're confused on how I described the bowing, it's much like how they used to bow in the past centuries, it's a gentleman's bow and a lady's curtsey.
> 
> Good reading lovely's!

Draco looked down at the gift that he had put in his bag and then he looked back at his father. 

"Yes, it is blank. It is a diary, even the most extraordinary of wizards need to write their thoughts sometimes." Lucius smiled, _smiled_ at him. 

Draco hesitated for a moment, "Thank you, father." 

"Of course, Draco." And he left, Draco silently thought to himself that something was most definitely off with him, but as long as it didn't kill him or effect Draco, he didn't care. He looked back at Harry, who was looking at the place that Lucius had been standing in suspicion. 

"That was really weird." 

"I know." Draco wished he had a, it would be the right time to stroke it, like Dumbledore. 

"Well, come on, we have to get our books." 

"Oh wait, I forgot I wanted to tell you something." Harry walked behind him, Draco turned back to look at him, 

"Yes?" 

"Apparently, a house-elf was stealing my mail." Draco dropped his book, what did Dobby do now, and how did Harry find out about that?

"Yeah? How strange, that elf sound annoying." Draco muttered and Harry groaned. 

"Tell me about it, he levitated a cake over our guests and dropped it on her, and then, he made it seem like it was _me_ who did it! I got a warning about underage magic. That's why the Dursley's put bars on my window." Draco listened to Harry rant and got more and more embarrassed on behalf of his house-elf. At the mention of the Dursley's, a question sprung to Draco's mind.

"Harry, those muggles seem right awful, I was wondering, what exactly are they like?" Draco kept his tone gentle, not wanting to scare Harry off or something, he knew how sensitive he was. 

Harry looked down and opened and closed his mouth a few times, contemplating what to say, when finally, he looked back up at Draco and opened his mouth, "They think that I'm a freak, they think that magic's abnormal, they didn't tell me that I was a wizard and told me that my parents died in a car crash." 

Draco sucked in a breath, he knew that the muggles were bad, but he had never heard of muggles hiding magic from a magic bearer, Draco briefly wondered how it would be without magic and shuddered at the prospect of it. 

"That's horrible Harry, but for what it's worth, I don't think you're a freak." Draco slowly wrapped Harry in a hug, he didn't hug people often, let alone hugging Potter, but he felt like he needed one right now, and Draco wasn't _cruel_ (well, maybe just a little bit).

"Oh, Potter's got a boyfriend now?" Draco recoiled at the sound of a new voice, letting go of Harry he looked over at the person who had made that stupid comment and cringed when he saw Nott, smirking. 

"Nott." Draco nodded, he knew Nott would feed off of mean comments, all the more reason not to say any. Being nice to someone when they're being mean to you confuses them, it's much harder to be mean to a nice person unless you're a cruel bastard, and Draco knew that Nott wasn't.

"Blood traitor." Nott nodded, but Draco had seen the way Nott's smirk had faltered. 

"Pureblood." Draco tilted his head and Nott laughed. 

"Is that supposed to be an insult?" He snorted. 

"No," Draco said briefly and Nott stopped laughing, looking at Draco with a confused expression, Draco knew what it meant, he knew that Nott was wondering why Draco wasn't being mean to him, and that was exactly what he wanted him to think. 

Draco helped Harry get up and faltered a bit when he saw how Harry was glaring at him, he opened his mouth, ready to say something, but Draco shushed him, fighting fire with fire would do no one any good.

Harry looked at him in confusion but Draco just shook his head, asking Harry to trust him and was surprised at how willingly he complied. Draco pushed through the crowd of people who were now buying their own books and made his way over to the Weasleys and the Grangers.

"Harry!" Mr Granger smiled. 

"And you must be Draco." Mr Granger stuck out his hand and Draco faltered a bit before touching it, he would have to learn how to get used to muggles and all the other sorts of people, he had only ever consorted with purebloods, and they never stuck out their hand so openly. 

"Oh, I'm sorry, do you have your own way of saying hello, do you bow?" Mr Granger did a very sorry excuse for a curtsey. 

"No, Mr Granger, actually, we curtsey, the boys normally bow like this-" Draco put his hand over his torso and bowed, "and the girls normally bow like this." Draco put his hands where the normal pureblood lady would hold her gown at her hips and bowed. 

"Interesting." Mr Granger looked like he carried the same hunger for knowledge that Draco did, he loved being able to educate people without coming across as snotty or prude. 

He felt someone touch his hair and looked behind him to see Mrs Granger admiring it, "You have to tell me how you get your hair so good, it's absolutely wonderful, how do you get it so long at such a young age, is it a magical thing?" 

And that was how Draco had started explaining Veela culture and magic shampoos to the Granger's.

*********************

"Come on, we're going to be late!" Draco yelled as Harry and Ron struggled to keep up with them, he didn't know how they had been so late, but they had and he was currently zooming across the train station to get to the entrance, he would be dammed if he didn't get on the train. 

There it was, Draco stopped for a moment and got ready to run into the entrance, Ron however, did not stop and kept on going forward. 

He hit the wall and all his luggage went flying, all the muggles surrounding the station looked towards them, and one of the ticket-takers started walking over to them, "Sorry sir, lost control of the trolley." Draco sent him away with a sheepish smile. 

Once the crowd was gone, he looked at Harry and Ron and hissed at them, "What the absolute hell just happened?" Ron and Harry shrugged, Ron looked at the clock, 

"It's eleven!" He yelled, his eyes going wide and his mouth dropping open, they had missed the bloody train. 

"How are we going to get to Hogwarts?" Harry looked absolutely crushed, no doubt his mind was going into overdrive, and for once, Draco was stumped, how would they get to Hog-

_No_

The only thing to do was use the flying car, but who the fuck would drive it, Draco didn't know how to operate a 'car' and these two weren't exactly the brightest of the bunch. There was no other way, however, "The car?" He suggested, and Ron's eyes lit up, 

"That's it, mate! You're brilliant!" Ron grabbed Harry and Draco and they took off towards the car. 

They all put their things in the back of the car and Ron took the driver's seat, much to Draco's dismay. Draco had to sit in the back with the owl, while Ron and Harry sat in the front, and before he knew it, they were taking off. 

"There we go, now, all we need to do, is find the Hogwarts express." Ron was clearly nervous, given how breathy his voice was, and Draco was already doubting his plan.

"Ron, are you sure you know how to fly this?" Before Ron could open his mouth, Draco interrupted him, 

"Of course he doesn't! Do you see how wiggle waggle we are right now!" Draco yelled; it seemed like he was always yelling at Weasley and Harry, Merlin, he wished Hermione was here, at least then it would be a balanced amount of stupidity. 

Then, Draco remembered, 

"Sheild the car! We can't go to Hogwarts if we get _expelled_ for breaking the international statue of secrecy!" Draco smacked Weasley across the head, and despite the circumstances, Harry snickered as Ron frantically jammed a silver button. 

Draco looked up, "Look out!" and Weasley narrowly missed the clocktower. 

They levelled off when they reached the clouds, and Draco finally had the chance to get his bearings, and the chance to yell at Weasley. 

"You idiot! You utter idiot!" Draco started, and Ron groaned, slamming his face against the wheel. 

Draco snapped his fingers, "Eyes on the clouds Weasley, and ears on me, I have some words for you!" Ron raised his face and looked at Harry, who was looking back at him in pity. 

Good, no one was going to save him right now. 

"Now-" Draco was cut off when the car started wiggling and the invisibility shield came off, Ron looked happy and fearful at the same time as he jammed the button again, only for nothing to happen, 

"Oh no! The invisibility booster must be faulty!" Ron cried, and Draco retorted, 

"What _isn't_ faulty in this piece of junk!" As if to prove his point, the car sputtered once again. 

"Come on, let's go lower, we need to find the train," Harry commanded Ron and he nodded as he lowered the car near the train tracks.

"Now all we need to do is catch up with the train!" Harry chirped happily. 

"We can't be far behind." Ron shrugged, and Draco flinched as he heard a whistle, 

"Did you hear that-" 

"We must be getting close!" Ron smiled, but Draco looked behind him and all the colour drained out of his face as he saw the Hogwarts express right behind them.

Draco screamed, Ron screamed, Harry screamed, everybody screamed. Ron spun the wheel the other way and they tumbled out of the train's path, spinning and twisting all the way down.

Draco's head collided with the top of the car and he saw stars, he only briefly caught a glimpse of Harry opening his door, 

"Harry!" Ron called out as Harry desperately tried to hang on for dear life, Ron tried to grab him but was stopped when Draco slapped him, "Eyes on the clouds!" Draco moved to the front of the car and reached out for Harry. 

"Hold on!" Draco thrust out his hand.

"Take my hand and stop looking down, you dolt!" Draco's eyes were crossing, he most likely had a concussion but he still managed to insult Harry.

Harry struggled but finally grabbed Draco's hand, and Draco pulled him up and closed the door. 

Draco was squished between Weasley and Harry and tried to squirm back to his seat, once he did, however, he heard Harry speak.

"I think we found the train." 

Draco slapped him across the head.


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a little mini **warning** , the Horcrux will behave _very_ creepily towards Draco, it counts for something later on in the story, don't worry.

Draco desperately tried to get out of this death machine the Weasley family called a car, Weasley had broken his wand when they landed in the whomping willow, a final touch to Draco's misery. 

He regretted becoming friends with this death trio. 

The car shot them out as well as their things, and Draco wanted nothing more than to just fall asleep on the grass, the tree had hit in the back of his already pounding head and he knew that he most definitely had a concussion. 

He wobbled to his feet and staggered to his trunk, picking it up as Harry and Ron chased after the car, apparently it was going into the dark forest.

"Dad's going to kill me."

"Not if I do it first." His words came out slurred, but they were there, Harry and Ron looked at him in concern. 

"Are you okay?" Harry asked, and Draco lazily tried to hit him in the head once again but missed as he had aimed for the wrong Harry, oh great, he was seeing double. 

"Hogwarts, now." He wanted to limit his speech and get into the castle as fast as possible. Harry helped him walk as he was still stumbling, and he was grateful, his legs felt like they were putty. 

They entered the castle, it was weird seeing it so empty. They were so close to the great hall when they were stopped by the squib, "Oh dear, we are in trouble." 

Fuck.

*********************

"You were seen by no less than seven Muggles!" Professor Snape lectured them while Draco was still leaning against Harry for support. 

"Do you have any idea how serious this is?" He put down the newspaper and glared at Draco in particular, Draco looked back at him, or at least, the one that he thought was him, 

"Mr Malfoy, my eyes are here." Okay, so wrong Snape. 

Draco looked at the other Snape. 

"I cannot believe you, I would have thought you to be the responsible one. The damage that you inflicted on a whooping willow that has been on these grounds since _before you were born!_ " 

Draco stumbled as he pushed off of Harry and spoke, "I think the death tree did more damage..to.." Draco couldn't finish his sentence as his eyes rolled to the back of his head and the world went black. 

*********************

"Mr Malf- _Draco!_ " Snape yelled as Draco fell to the ground, Harry was at the floor in an instant, picking him up. 

"What have you done to my godson!" Snape yelled at them and Harry's train of thought did an abrupt one-eighty. 

"Draco's your godson, Professor?" Harry tilted his head as he lifted Draco up, he was surprisingly light. 

"That is none of your business, Mr Potter, now, what have you done to him!" Snape was red in the face and Harry and Ron baulked at how bare the emotion was on his face, Snape wasn't just angry, he was furious. 

Harry gulped but stood his ground, "When we landed in the tree I think it hit him in the back of the head, it did break the glass." Harry looked at Ron, 

"And he hit his head when we were spinning around in the car when you fell out, remember?" Ron added, and Snape lost some colour in his already pale face. 

"Wait here." He went to the back of his classroom, where he kept his supplies. 

Dumbledore and McGonagall chose that moment to burst in, "Severus I know you're upset, but-" Dumbledore stopped in the middle of his speech as he noticed the lack of Professor and the unconscious male in Harry's arm.

"Oh my! What's happened to Mr Malfoy!" Professor McGonagall ran over to them and started to inspect the unconscious Malfoy. 

"These two idiots managed to give him a concussion!" Snape scolded them as he came out of the back room with a few potions in his hands, one was blue and the other was red. 

"Make sure he drinks these, and he gets lots of rest, I am putting you in charge of his health, if anything happens to him, you will be held accountable!" Snape held a finger in front of them.

"Yes Professor." Harry and Ron nodded.

"Now back to the matter of the car-"

"Yes, that is why we're here, Severus, we don't believe that the punishment should be too severe, Minerva has already agreed to put them in detention for one week as well as take away 50 house points." Dumbledore smiled.

"It should 150-" 

"They are in _my_ house Severus, and Flitwick has already agreed to take away 20 points from Ravenclaw for Mr Malfoy's part in this." Snape's eyes darkened, but knowing that this was a battle that he would not win, he reluctantly nodded. 

"You are welcome to take him back to your dorm until he has recovered." Professor McGonagall told them, a small smile on her face as she looked down at Draco, and Harry and Ron nodded with a smile on their face, they rarely got to take Draco into their house, they normally went into Ravenclaw. 

They headed towards the portrait of the fat lady.

*********************

"Draco! What did you two do to him!" They were greeted by a very frazzled Hermione when they entered the room, the common room was empty except for her as the rest of them were sleeping. 

"I don't know, he fainted after something hit him in the head, Snape gave us these potions to give him." Ron showed Hermione the potions.

"He probably has a concussion, what were you thinking about, using the flying car to get to Hogwarts, how did you even miss the train?" Hermione hissed at them but was still looking at Draco in pity.

"It was his idea!" Ron bristled and Harry could already see an argument coming about. 

"And you probably encouraged it, oh he had to spend the whole ride to Hogwarts with the two of you! No wonder he fainted, he was probably exhausted having to deal with the two of you without me, you know we balance each other out." Hermione raised her head in a challenge.

Draco started to stir, holding his head, his face contorted in pain. 

"That was fast," Hermione muttered under her breath. 

Hermione was all over him in an instant, snatching the potions from Ron, who had taken them back, not giving Draco any time to think about what was happening before she was shoving potions down his throat. 

"Wha-" Draco said groggily before the first potion was shoved down his throat, Hermione had chosen the red one first, and then the blue. 

"Ugh." Draco wrinkled his nose in disgust, sticking his tongue out. 

"That's disgusting." He whined, looking at Hermione, then he noticed his surroundings, looking around, he asked,

"Am I in the Gryffindor common room?" Draco looked at them and they nodded.

Something changed in Draco's expression and he looked at them, "Where's my stuff?" 

"Oh, right here-" Harry held up his trunk and Draco lunged for it, 

"I have to do something, I'll be right back." Draco smiled at them and left the room with his trunk in hand. 

They looked at each other, Hermione said what everyone was thinking, "That was strange." 

**********************

Draco didn't know why, but he had to find something in his trunk, his mind was nagging at him to get something from his trunk. Once he was sure no one could see him, he ripped open his trunk, he didn't know what he was looking for, but he knew that he _needed_ it.

The book, it was the book, as soon as he touched it, a feeling flooded through his veins, he didn't know how to describe it, content? Maybe happiness? 

He grabbed a quill and some ink, he should write in it, yes, he would write in it. He opened the book and wrote on the first page, 

_'My name is Draco Lucius Malfoy.'_

Before he could write more, the words were sucked into the page and new writing took its place, it was fancier than Draco's, 

_'A Malfoy? My, My, Hello, Draco. My name is Tom Marvolo Riddle.'_

A book that talked back, how interesting-

He should it to Dumbledore-

But why would you, you could learn so much from this-

But it's abnormal-

Just because something's abnormal doesn't mean it's wrong-

He had a headache, most likely from the concussion, he should _stop thinking about it._

He started writing in the journal, almost without knowing he was doing so, 

_'Tell me about yourself, Draco.'_ The writing was back.

Draco knew he shouldn't tell inanimate objects about himself, but what would it do, tell someone? That was impossible, no one would get their hands on the book as long as Draco kept it on himself at all times, and having something or _someone_ to talk to would be nice, he could tell the book anything and it wouldn't tell anyone. 

_'You already know my name, what else do you want to know?'_

_'What is your house? Who are your friends? What do you look like?'_

That last question was a bit odd, but Draco found himself not caring, 

_' I'm a Ravenclaw, father was quite mad at that, he expected me to be in Slytherin. I'm friends with Harry Potter, Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley, and I suppose Neville Longbottom, but we don't talk that much. What I look like, why do you want to know?'_

Draco wanted to write what he looked like, but he thought he was privy to at least a few questions. 

_'My dearest Draco, do you not think that friends should know what their friends look like? I cannot see you but I'm sure you look beautiful, the Malfoy's are renowned for their beauty, but I am certain that those rumours do not live up to you. I am a friend Draco, you can talk to me, your father sounds dreadful, and you can tell me anything without worrying about me telling anyone, I am just a diary after all.'_

Draco found himself blushing, he loved compliments, even if they weren't about his intelligence. He was right, Draco could tell him anything, could he tell Tom that he was a time traveller, it would be nice to tell someone without having to worry about them thinking him crazy or telling other people.

_'I have long platinum blond hair, I grew it out. I can never tell my eye colour though, some people say that it's grey while others say it's blue.'_

_'I'm sure they're beautiful either way-'_

The writing was gone suddenly, where did it go-

"Draco! Did you find what you wanted?" Draco shut the book instantly, he didn't need others knowing about this book, it was _his_.

"Yeah, Hermione." Draco looked away, he wanted to talk to Tom again. 

"Are you writing in your _diary_?" She tried to mock him, but Draco was getting unreasonably mad at her, he knew he shouldn't be, but why was he. If he stayed near her for much longer, he would yell at her, and he didn't want to do that, he had to getaway. 

"Yeah Hermione, I got to go to the loo, I'll be right back, alright?" Draco didn't wait for her to answer, he was closing his trunk.

"Sure, it's down the hall, you can go to the _bathroom_ then." She winked at him, she knew he was going to write in his diary again, he tried to smile at her but knew how forced it looked. 

Draco walked down the hallway as fast as he could without Hermione suspected anything, he still had his quill and ink, and he didn't care how weird. He opened the door to what he assumed was the bathroom, it was, and he bolted inside, closing the door immediately. 

He opened the book and the writing was back, 

_'Draco, I'm so glad you're back, that was rather rude of that girl, interrupting us like that, she didn't seem like a pureblood, was she one?'_

_'No, she's not, she's muggle-born.'_

_'Ah, that explains it'._

Was he insulting Hermione, he didn't like that, he should probably tell Tom not to do that, but it didn't seem like that big of a deal, and Granger was a _mudblood-_

Where did that come from? He had sworn never to say that word again, he shook his head, he would not refer to Hermione by that word. 

Someone knocked on the door, Draco had to wrap up their conversation. 

_'Goodbye, my dearest Draco, I have a feeling that this is only the beginning.'_


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm having way too much fun writing this darling, feel free to leave a comment, I read every single one, as well as the bookmark comments, I love knowing what people think of my writing style and such.

Draco was sitting at his table, talking to the new girl, Luna Lovegood, as well as Anthony Goldenstein, they both made lovely talk, Draco was interested in Lovegood's theories, the others didn't love her because they thought her abnormal, but Draco didn't see anything wrong with being a tad bit different, even though the old Draco had made fun of her, he wouldn't do that this time though. 

He had glanced at the Gryffindor table a few times, only because he thought he felt someone looking at him, but every time he looked at the table, Harry was looking somewhere for some reason, Draco had caught him looking at the ceiling several times, not to mention that his face was always red, he had to get some pepper up for him, Draco was starting to worry for him, maybe he had a cold.

Either that or he was drunk, and that was rather ridiculous considering the fact that he was twelve years old, but Potter always was a notorious lightweight, Draco had mocked him for it multiple times. 

Draco was just getting ready to leave when he heard Ron scream in fear, he looked over at him and saw a red envelope in his hand.

_Oh shi-_

_"— STEALING THE CAR, I WOULDN'T HAVE BEEN SURPRISED IF THEY'D EXPELLED YOU, YOU WAIT TILL I GET HOLD OF YOU, I DON'T SUPPOSE YOU STOPPED TO THINK WHAT YOUR FATHER AND I WENT THROUGH WHEN WE SAW IT WAS GONE —_

_— LETTER FROM DUMBLEDORE LAST NIGHT, I THOUGHT YOUR FATHER WOULD DIE OF SHAME, WE DIDN'T BRING YOU UP TO BEHAVE LIKE THIS, YOU AND HARRY COULD BOTH HAVE DIED —"_

_— ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTED — YOUR FATHER'S FACING AN INQUIRY AT WORK, IT'S ENTIRELY YOUR FAULT AND IF YOU PUT ANOTHER TOE OUT OF LINE WE'LL BRING YOU STRAIGHT BACK HOME! -- Oh, and Draco dear, just know that we don't blame you for what Ron did, we know he probably roped you into doing it, you're such a responsible young Ravenclaw."_

Everyone turned to face Draco at the last segment, Nott was outright laughing. 

"How come everyone always takes your side?" Ron whined, still looking shaken by the Howler.

Draco laughed nervously and speed-walked out of the great hall, he would definitely tell Tom about this, they hadn't spoken much last night, Draco had to go back to his own dorm that day so he hadn't had much time to talk to Tom. 

He had about 10 minutes before he had to be in his next class, he had left early on purpose, wanting to talk to Tom.

Once he found a secure corner, he opened the book yet again, and of course, Tom greeted him first, 

_'Welcome back, my dearest Draco.'_

Draco smiled and got out his quill. 

_'Hello, Tom.'_

_'How has your day been so far?'_

_' That was actually the reason why I was coming to write, Ron got a howler.'_

_' The Weasley, what did he do now?'_

_'Oh, I haven't told you about the flying car thing, have I? We missed the train so we had to use the flying car, Weasley drove for some reason, and of course, he is an idiot, he had the most atrocious flying skills, Harry fell out of the car and almost died, we almost got hit by the Hogwarts express and I got a concussion due to his horrible flying skills.'_

_' That absolute Weasel, how ever do you put up with him?'_

_'Even I amaze myself sometimes._

Draco hesitated for a moment, he probably shouldn't tell Tom that he was a time traveller, he should wait until he was back in his dorm, but what could happen, he should tell Tom now. 

_'Tom, I can tell anything, right?'_

The writing came back faster this time. 

_'Of course.'_

_'I'm a-'_

"Draco." Someone called out his name again and he shut the book. He looked to see who it was and surprise, surprise, it was Hermione, that fucking _mudblood-_

Where was this coming from? He shook his head again, it started to ache for some reason, he would really need that pepper-up. 

"Hermione." He nodded at her, and she smiled at him. 

"Wanna walk to class together, It's the one class we have together." Hermione smiled at him, looking hopeful, it had been a bit of time since they had spent time together. 

"Sure." He smiled at her and they started walking, Draco put the diary in his bag and ignored the urge to write in it, he would have plenty of time during his free period.

"So, tell me." Draco nudged her. 

"Tell you what?" Hermione asked.

"Anything really." Draco just wanted to make conversation with her. 

Hermione smiled and absolutely went off about all the things that she had learned, she asked him some questions and he answered as best as he could. 

It was nice talking with Hermione again.

******************

Professor Sprout was teaching them about Mandrakes, he absolutely hated the little buggers, they bit. She gave them earmuffs to wear when they pulled them out of their pots only to put them back in. 

Even with the muffs on, Longbottom fainted, Draco could still hear the shrill cries of the creatures and his face twisted in disgust, they were ugly little things. Draco turned to see Hermione Ron and Harry looked much the same as him, except Ron's hands were on his earmuffs.

Ron said something to Draco, but he couldn't hear him, "What?" He yelled, trying to hear him with the earmuffs on as well as that stupid noise in the background. 

He said it again, this time louder, and Draco could make out the smallest hints of a voice, "What?" He asked again, and Ron sucked in a deep breath, getting ready to yell as loud as he could. 

"DO YOU WANT TO COME TO QUIDDITCH PRACTICE WITH US?" Draco swore he heard his ears ringing. 

He had lungs like his mother.

"Of course, mate." Draco nodded and Ron smiled, Draco didn't know if it was because he was glad that he heard him or if it was because he was coming to practice. He wanted to see Harry fly anyways, he liked quidditch, maybe he would try out this year. 

Draco returned to potting his mandrake. 

_Ow._

The little bugger bit him. Draco shook his finger and shoved the plant into its pot, he hated Mandrakes. 

*********************

Draco walked to the field with Harry, Ron and Hermione, Ron and Harry were in their Quidditch uniforms while Draco and Hermione had plans to relax on the field while watching them play, Hermione didn't like flying.

Draco had originally planned to talk to Tom this evening, but he wanted to spend time with his friends anyways, Tom would be fine with Draco for just a moment, wouldn't he? And Draco had to figure out why he hadn't been getting his visions as frequently anymore, the last time he'd had one was right before he entered Flourish and Botts. 

They were just getting ready to settle down when they heard some ruckus going on behind then, Hermione and Draco turned around to see the Slytherin Quidditch team, as well as the Gryffindor team, arguing. 

"Professor Snape wrote us a note." The team leader, Marcus Flint threw a note at Oliver Wood's face, he caught it and started reading aloud, Draco didn't pay attention to what he was saying, he was too busy looking at their brooms, Flint must have noticed. 

"Oh, Malfoy, you've seen our new brooms, Nott's father gave them to us." He snickered as he pushed Nott to the front of the group.

"Our new Seeker." Flint laughed.

"Those are Nimbus 2001's!" Ron gasped, looking at the brooms in jealousy, while Draco was looking at them in confusion as well as curiosity, his father hadn't bought them for the team this time, it looked like Nott really was the replacement Malfoy this time. 

He wondered if he would have to go through the same struggles that Draco did, would he do everything the same way that Draco did or would he change because he wasn't Draco, or did he change as well, did Nott's personality change to match the old Draco's, if so, he would be easy to work with, Draco would just have to appeal to his vanity and suck up to him, a small price to pay, as well as a blow to his ego. 

A friendship with Nott would be achievable, as long as he didn't outright insult him and hurt his pride, that was one of the worst things you could do to a Slytherin, it was right up there with public embarrassment, at least then he could get you back for it. 

It paid off having been a Slytherin once upon a time.

He hadn't been paying attention to the conversation, but for some reason, he started paying attention when Hermione started talking, it was as if he couldn't control why he was listening, 

"Well, at least no one on the Gryffindor team bought their way in!" Hermione seemed proud of her insult, and for some reason, Draco was enveloped in rage at that, he wanted to fight back, but he couldn't, it was as if his words were not his own, and he regretted them as soon as they came out of his mouth. 

"They got in on pure talent!" Hermione continued, and Draco cut her off, trying, desperately trying to stop his words,

_"No one asked for your opinion, you filthy little mudblood."_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not sorry, I love a good bit of Angst, and this year will be full of it.


	15. Chapter 15

It went silent, he opened his mouth to say something but he couldn't get anything out before Hermione slapped him. He didn't turn his head back, he stayed there in shock as she ran away, Ron and Harry looked at him, Ron was red in the face, his eyes wide and clouded with betrayal

Harry looked confused but could tell that something was wrong, he looked at Ron and then back at Draco, he opened his mouth to say something but was stopped by Ron, he shook his head and they took off, following Hermione. 

Draco looked back at the teams, the Gryffindors were looking at him in shock, while the Slytherins were looking at him in pride, especially Nott. 

"I knew you had it in you! Was this your plan all along, get close to the mudblood and then break her filthy little heart, good job!" Nott came up to him and patted him on the shoulder, his sentiments were echoed by the rest of his team. 

"Sorry, we doubted you mate." One of the beaters said, but Draco wasn't listening, questions were running through his head, he didn't understand, he was confused. 

Why did he say that? He didn't want to, but he knew that he was going to, why didn't he stop himself from saying that? It was like someone was forcing the words out of his mouth. Draco scoffed, like that explanation would hold up against Hermione, it didn't make sense to even himself. 

He nodded towards the Slytherins and walked back to his dorm. 

He should ask Tom. 

*******************

Hermione sat on a chair at Hagrid's crying her eyes out, Hagrid handed her a tissue and she blew into it, a disgusting sound coming from it. 

"Hermione, yer gonna need to tell me what happened." Hagrid pleaded with her once more. When Ron and Harry came in he turned to them in hope, 

"'Arry! Ron! Why's Hermione crying?" Hermione looked up, trying to explain, but just ended up crying harder, she put her head on her knees and continued to sob. 

"It was Malfoy! He called her a..." Ron trailed off, looking around, then he looked back at Hagrid and lowered his voice to a whisper.

"A mudblood." He cringed at the word and Hagrid gasped.

"I don't understand, what does mudblood mean?" Harry asked throwing his arms out, Draco had clearly done something bad but he didn't know what it was, why was everyone so mad at him!

"'Arry, mudblood means, dirty blood, but that's a load of bollocks, tere isn't a witch or wizard alive today that ain't half-blood or less." Harry gasped, Draco wouldn't say that to Hermione, but he just did...

"I-I can't believe-" Hermione blew into the tissue again, 

"I thought he was my friend!" Hermione yelled and looked away, putting her hands in her face. 

"I knew we shouldn't have trusted Malfoy, his dad probably put him up to this!" Ron went on a tangent, his face getting redder by the second. Harry stopped him,

"But why would he do this? That's not the Draco that we know." Harry said, and Ron looked at him in pity, 

"Mate, I know that you have a crush on him or something, but he was clearly leading you on!" Ron shook Harry, trying to snap him out of it, but Harry put his hands on Ron's and made him stop. 

"Listen! Hasn't he been acting strange ever since he got that concussion, maybe it was a side effect of the potions or something." Harry tried, but he was thinking what they all were thinking 'did he just try to lead us on?'

_No, that's not the Draco I know._

"I'm not speaking to him." Hermione had calmed down now, looking at them in determination. 

"Neither am I." Ron declared, and then both looked at Harry. 

"I-" He stopped, really thinking about, Draco always said that he needed to think things through. 

"I.. won't speak to him," Harry said, closing his eyes. It hurt him to think that Draco might really be like Nott, and this was all some elaborate scheme to get them to trust him so that he could blow it up in their faces, he certainly was smart enough to do it. 

Hermione and Ron looked at him, happy that he agreed with them, and Hagrid made them all a nice cup of tea. 

*************

Draco sat on his bed and opened the book, ready to write in it, but Tom beat him to it, 

_'Are you okay?'_

Draco thought about it for a moment, was he okay? No, he wasn't, he had just broken his friend's heart and he felt like crying, Harry and Ron would most likely never talk to him again and everything had just gotten so fucked up, he didn't even know why he had just ruined their friendship...

Was there something wrong with him? Was he just destined to be mean no matter what? Could he never change?

A teardrop hit the page, and it faded. 

_'Oh my dearest Draco, tell me what's wrong.'_

Draco sniffed and started writing, teardrops hitting the page as he wrote, 

_' I don't know what happened, I called Hermione a mudblood.'_

Draco let out a sob. 

_'It'll be okay, don't worry, I'm right here with you, she'll forgive you, and if she doesn't, well then she's not a real friend. A real friend gives someone the chance to explain themselves before cutting off ties with them, but even if she doesn't forgive you, don't worry, I'll always be here.'_

His words brought some comfort back to Draco, and he wiped the tears off of his face, he wouldn't cry again, he would explain himself to Hermione, and if she didn't believe him, then she wasn't a real friend, just like Tom said-

But he called her a mudblood, it would be understandable if she didn't forgive him, the thought of Hermione never forgiving him made the tears come back, why had he said that?

_' Why did I say that? I'm supposed to be her friend.'_

It took a while before a response came. 

_' I don't know, but I think that you should take this journal wherever you go now, I'll keep you safe Draco, whatever's wrong with you, I'll fix it, I'll make the pain go away.'_

But there was no pain-

He should _listen to what Tom said._

_'Alright.'_

_'Good, now, there was something you wanted to tell me.'_

Right, he should tell Tom that he was a time traveller. 

He dipped his quill in ink and started to write.

***************

He was called into Flitwick's office, he knew what it was about, he gulped as he sat down at the desk of a very disappointed looking Flitwick. 

"Mr Malfoy, I'm sure you know what this is about, I have seen the way Ms Granger's performance has dropped, your words really hurt her." Flitwick was looking at him with pain in his eyes. 

"I know, Sir." Draco looked anywhere but at Flitwick. 

"I have to admit that I didn't expect this from you, Mr Malfoy." It wasn't 'Draco' anymore. 

"I know, Sir." Draco's voice grew smaller. 

"I need to ask, _why?_ " There was such pain in his voice, that Draco cringed, he _didn't_ know. He tried to figure it out but he didn't know why he said what he did, maybe he could tell Flitwick, but he would just think that he was making an excuse, but maybe he would believe him. 

Draco opened his mouth and tears began to blur his vision, his voice came out in a whisper, "I'm just so tired Professor, I don't get visions anymore, my eye's blocked, the words came out, I knew what I was going to say, but I couldn't stop it, I was just so...angry." By the end of the sentence, he was in complete tears. 

Flitwick was looking at him in confusion, as well as fascination, "Your words were not your own?" He inquired. 

"I don't know! I don't know what's wrong with me!" Draco stood up and screamed. 

"Draco calm down, I believe you, I don't know what's happening, but we will figure this out, here." Flitwick went to his shelf and got some books from his shelf and handed them to Draco. 

"Read this, tell me if you feel some of the symptoms in this." Draco looked down and cringed, it was a book full of disorders, the most prominent one was Multiple Personality Disorder, did he have it? No, he couldn't, he knew what he was going to say. 

Draco nodded and calmed himself down, he waited for a bit and then he left the room without saying goodbye to Flitwick. 

****************

Hermione, Ron and Harry didn't talk to him, he caught Harry giving him glances full of pity. He had tried to talk to them, but had ended up in a screaming match with Ron, or, at least, Ron was screaming. 

Strangely enough, Nott and a few other Slytherins that were in his year had started talking to him, it wasn't like he talked back much. He spent most of his time with Lovegood nowadays, she didn't care about the gossip that went around the school, and, of course, Tom. 

He carried his book around with him all the time now, Tom was the only thing that brought him comfort, Tom believed him, Tom didn't think he was crazy, and Tom listened to him. 

Before he knew it, Halloween came around, and he wasn't going to attend the feast, he would rather be in his room, reading and talking to Tom, nowadays, he didn't even need to write, he could just talk to Tom, and read what Tom wrote back. 

Tom continued to compliment him every time he did even the slightest thing right, and Draco found himself growing fond of Tom, he helped him with the homework and they talked, they bantered over points that they disagreed on, and Draco soon learned that Tom was _smart_.

Draco sat in his room, talking to Tom, no one else was in the dorm, so he didn't need to worry about anyone hearing him, Tom didn't like it when people interrupted them, and Draco didn't like it either _Granger interrupted them twice-_

No, he wouldn't think of Hermione. 

"I mean, I disagree on that, why would seven be such an important number in Arithmancy?" Tom was going on about the number seven and how magical it was, Draco was interested. 

_'Well, in ancient times, only seven planets could be seen without using the telescope such as Mercury, Venus, Mars, Saturn, Jupiter, the sun and the moon, it's always been an auspicious number.'_

Draco supposed that made sense, he would have to look into that, Tom always gave him the most interesting things to think about. Draco yawned, suddenly sleepy. 

_'It looks like you're tired, we can continue this conversation later.'_ Tom wrote, and Draco's eyes started to flutter shut. 

"But it's not even nighttime." Draco tilted his head to the side and he yawned again.

_'Sleep, Draco.'_

And the world went dark.


	16. Chapter 16

Harry Potter and his friends were coming back from the Nearly Headless Nick's death day celebration, it was weird, all the food was rotten and they didn't exactly have fun there, they were just there because they liked Nick. 

He turned to Hermione, they had an argument concerning Draco, Harry thought that they should at least listen to him, but Hermione was dead set on ignoring him, and Ron wasn't exactly much help, Harry missed Draco, and he really just wanted this all to be done with. 

He opened his mouth to say something when he heard a voice, whispering, _"Kill, Kill, Kill."_

Harry turned around, his eyes wide, looking around for the source of the noise, but he couldn't see it, he could only hear it. 

"Harry, mate are you alright?" Ron asked.

"Do you hear that?" Harry looked at Ron. 

"Hear what?" Ron tilted his head, his eyebrows furrowed. 

_"Kill, Kill, Kill."_

"There it is again!" Harry tried to follow the sound, walking down the corridor. 

"Harry!" Hermione and Ron followed him down the corridor, he started running down, because he knew that something was wrong, he could feel it, he just didn't know what. 

Harry stopped in his tracks when he saw Draco standing next to Mrs Norris, the cat wasn't moving, and something was clearly wrong, given how pale his face was. Ron and Hermione stopped when they saw Draco, Hermione was looking at the cat while Ron was looking at Draco with his eyes narrowed. 

Harry was looking at Draco, his worry increasing as he noticed how pale the Malfoy looked, his eyes had bags underneath them, but what worried him most was the fact that his normally perfectly kept hair was all over the place. 

"Draco?" Draco turned around so fast that Harry was astonished his head didn't fall off, he looked scared, his lips pursed. 

"Leave." Draco pleaded with them. 

"Why do you want us to leave, _Malfoy?_ " Ron put emphasis on his last name, and Draco flinched. 

Draco scrunched up his face, he looked like he was in pain, he held his hair with one of his hands, grunting in pain, "Draco?" Harry said, he was worried and didn't care what Ron or Hermione said to him anymore. 

Draco stumbled backwards, but suddenly, he stopped, looking up at him with empty eyes, Harry stopped for a moment at seeing them, they looked so _so_ empty. 

_"Potter."_ He sneered in disgust as if saying the name brought him physical pain, and Harry looked at him in confusion, he didn't understand what was happening, Draco suddenly felt...wrong.

"Malfoy, what did you do to the cat?" Hermione was poking the cat, it wasn't moving, she was looking at him in horror and fear, and Draco smiled at her, an evil smile. 

"What did _I_ do?" He tilted his head, and his expression changed once again, this time morphing into fear and horror. 

"POTTER KILLED MRS. NORRIS!" He yelled at the top of his lungs, and Hermione, Ron and Harry jumped all at the same time. 

Everyone came running in, every teacher and every student, once they saw what the commotion was about, they were all looking at the cat in horror. In blood, it wrote, 

_' The chamber of secrets has been reopened, enemies of the heir...beware.'_

Filch came running in, but when he saw Mrs Norris, he stopped. He looked at Harry in rage, "You...You killed my cat." He was shaking with rage. 

"Mr Malfoy, what's happened?" Snape came up to them, and Harry opened his mouth, ready to answer, but was cut off by Snape. 

"I asked _Mr Malfoy_ what happened, Mr Potter." He gave him a death glare and then looked back at his godson. 

"I heard a cat, I knew Filch was missing Mrs Norris, so I came down to see what was happening, and I saw Potter doing... _something_ to the poor cat!" Draco said, looking at him in fear. 

"T-That's not true!" Harry said, looking back at Draco in betrayal, this wasn't the Draco he knew, and he still felt wrong! Harry didn't know what was happening, but he was certain of one thing, this wasn't his Draco! Something was very wrong. 

"I don't recall seeing Mr Potter at the feast today, I know that Mr Malfoy was in his dorm, so he is telling the truth, Mr Potter, the question is-" Snape loomed over him, "- are _you?_ " 

He turned back to Draco, "You are excused, we will call you if we have other questions." Draco nodded and left the corridor, probably going back to his dorm. 

"But Professor, he's lying!-" 

"Be quiet, Ms Granger," Snape said once again. 

"Professor Snape, I know for a fact that Mr Potter and his friends were at Sir Nicholas' deathday party today." Professor McGonagall chimed in, and Snape looked at her, furious, his one chance at getting Potter expelled was gone. 

Harry looked at Hermione, maybe she had noticed that something was wrong with Draco too, she was looking back at him, and he knew that she noticed it as well, he didn't bother looking at Ron, because he knew that he wouldn't have noticed, Ron wasn't that perspective. 

They were going to come up with a plan to get their friend back. 

*******************

Draco woke up in his dorm again, he had a splitting headache, and felt...wrong. 

It must have been a dream, he thought he had a bad one, something about a cat. Draco looked around the room and was confused when he saw that it had been rearranged and the door was open, had someone come in here while he was sleeping. 

Speaking of sleeping, he didn't feel energized at all, he felt more tired. He yawned again, looking for the diary, it had been moved as well, who had come in his room? He grabbed the book from where it was now resting at the windowsill. 

He started flipping through it, taking out his quill when someone burst in, 

_Why does this keep happening?_

It was Luna and Anthony (they had recently come to a first name basis.)

"Wow, Draco, you have to tell us what you saw Potter doing!" Anthony exclaimed, jumping onto his bed. Why was Luna in the boy's dorm? 

"Pardon?" He tilted his head, he didn't know what they were talking about, he had said something about Harry, he had seen Harry doing something?

"Yeah, you know, the attack on Mrs Norris!" Luna said in her airy voice, and Draco's face drained of colour. There had been an attack on Mrs Norris _again?_ It wasn't supposed to happen again, what had he done wrong? Was this another fixed point, did it have to happen? 

"Oh.. do you not want to talk about it?" Anthony's face turned to one of understanding. 

"That's fine, Luna and I are going to hang out with Terry, you can come to join us if you want, today must have worn you out, I mean, seeing someone who had been your best friend... doing that." Draco's head snapped up, and he nodded. 

Why were they blaming Harry already? That wasn't supposed to happen until the duelling club, and he had already made preparations to make sure that didn't happen, he would have to scrap those now. Oh god, what happened-

_His dream._

Was it possible that it wasn't a dream? There was something about a cat in his dream, that cat was most likely Mrs Norris. He narrowed his eyes, deep in thought. This hadn't happened last time, what was different this time, he thought back...

_The book._

Everything suddenly clicked, ever since he had come into possession of that book everything had gone downhill, he had called Hermione that word, Tom had told him that he was getting sleepy, he wasn't getting sleepy, he was being possessed, that was why he didn't feel better after sleeping, he hadn't slept!

He would need to get rid of that book, _now_

Draco still had the book in his hand, he ran through his dorm. Where could he get rid of the book? The bathroom, no one used Moaning Myrtle's bathroom, that was why Draco had gone there so much in his sixth year. He could get rid of it there, maybe he could flush it down the toilet? Crude, but it could work. 

He opened the door to Myrtle's room, made his way to one of the stalls and threw the book in the toilet, he was right about to flush it, when the voices came back in his head. 

_'Don't do it.'_

_' I'm your friend.'_

Maybe he shouldn't-

No, he had ruined his real friendships, there was something terribly wrong with this book-

He could study it-

No, he needed to get rid of it-

But maybe-

"Draco?" A voice called out, and Draco knew who it was before he saw them, Harry. Harry was standing there with Hermione and Ron, he would apologize to them later, once he found out what this was, he needed to get rid of it. 

"O-Oh, Hi Harry." Draco stuttered as he flushed the toilet, it made a horrible screeching noise as it went down, was it too much for it to be quiet? 

A silent, awkward period followed as they stared at each other, Weasley was staring at him in surprise, his face had lost a bit of his colour and Granger was looking at him with his mouth open.

He looked over his shoulder and almost sobbed in relief when he saw the Diary was gone. 

"Yes!" And he slapped his mouth, looking back at them.

"Um, I've got to go." Draco bolted out of the bathroom.

*****************

"I told you!" Harry yelled in triumph as he saw their stumped faces.

"He never stutters," Ron whispered, looking horribly guilty. 

"Because there's something wrong!" Harry yelled at them again, they hadn't believed him for so long that he was exasperated.

"It wasn't him, he was fighting something, it wasn't him." Hermione would put her hands in her face if she could.

"What's happening with him?" Ron looked at both of them. 

"I don't know, that's why we're going to do this, I'm going under the invisibility cloak, and you and Hermione will use the polyjuice, you can ask him questions, and I'll spy on him." Harry cringed at how wrong those words sounded, he didn't want to invade Draco's privacy, but something told him that Draco wouldn't tell them what was happening, or he would have already. 

"How long will the polyjuice take?" Harry looked at Hermione and knew that it wasn't going to be a good answer given how she looked at the floor and scratched her head. 

"A month."


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just so you guys know, I've found an amazing Beta, so I'll be revising some of earlier chapters. Chapters may take longer to come out, but that does give me ample time to write further chapters.

Draco sat in front of Professor Trelawney. He still hadn't had a single vision since the beginning of the year. He had given it a bit more time, but it was now November, and he still hadn't had one. Asking Professor Trelawney was the only option he had left.

"You haven't even had a small vision, a flash?" Professor Trelawney looked pale. 

"Yes," Draco nodded. 

Trelawney narrowed her eyes. "Perhaps this is a punishment," she muttered. 

"A punishment?" Draco tilted his head. 

"Travelling back in time is disturbing the universe itself; maybe the universe is punishing you for travelling back here. I have to ask, Draco, why are you here?" 

An unprecedented rage lit up inside him. He was just _so_ angry, and he didn't know why. 

_"Because there was only so much death that I could take!"_ Draco yelled, standing up. Trelawney opened her mouth but didn't have the chance to say anything. 

"I was supposed to die, right before I did the ritual. Someone hit me with an Avada Kedavra, and it _hurt!_ Do _YOU_ know what it’s like to be hit by an Avada? Do _YOU_ know what it’s like to _DIE?!_ ”

He remembered the feeling of having his soul being forcibly removed from his body. It was just _painpainpainpain-_

"Draco-" Trelawney got up, making her way towards him. 

" _NO!_ I'm trying to fix my mistakes, and I don't know why I can't!" The rage was still there, but now there was also sadness. His emotions were all jumbled up; he didn't know what to feel. Should he be sad, or angry? 

"Draco...I don't know if it is the universe punishing you. Perhaps it is something else, but that is the only thing _I_ know. I am not the only Seer in the world, Draco. I have never met a time traveler before. I do not know the effects of time travelling on your Inner Eye." Trelawney spoke in a soothing voice. Even when he was yelling at her, she remained calm. 

His vision blurred. He looked down. Trelawney raised his chin and opened her arms, inviting him into a hug. He didn't know her that well, but he needed a hug right now. 

He sobbed on Trelawney's shoulder. 

*************

Looking at his ceiling, he reflected on what had happened. His emotions were... _wrong_. He knew that didn't make sense, but it did to him. He couldn't make sense of _why_ he was feeling the way he did. The main emotion that he felt these days was anger... and sometimes sadness, but that wasn't new to him. 

His Sixth year was full of sadness and stress, but he had never felt so mad at someone. It was uncontrollable. Yes, he had almost _Crucio'd_ Potter, but he had come to regret that, and even then he hadn't felt such rage towards him. He had wanted Potter to hurt... but now… he wanted to _kill_ him. 

It was like a beast; an uncontrollable beast. Sometimes it slept peacefully, and other times, completely random times, it woke up and ripped apart everything around it. 

It was completely unpredictable. 

And it scared him. It scared him because he couldn't trust himself to come close to Hermione, Ron or Harry. He didn't want to hurt them, but at the same time, _he did._

The only thing that he could make sense of was that he missed Tom, and he didn't know why. He knew that Tom was most likely the reason he had called Hermione that word; but was he really that bad? Maybe Tom was like him, a boy who had thought that he was above others because of his blood. Maybe he could convince Tom that he wasn't above them? 

Maybe he acted out of ignorance; ignorance could be fixed. He could teach Tom. Teach him to respect those of different blood. 

But how would he find Tom again? 

He missed Tom. He needed Tom again. He couldn't live without him. 

Draco yawned, deciding that tomorrow, he would look for Tom. 

****************

Draco was sitting with Anthony and Terry. They had been dragged into this 'duelling club' that Lockhart had started. Draco hadn't wanted to go because Lockhart had asked them to come (he liked Lockhart as much as Snape liked Harry Potter, which is to say, not at all). But when he had mentioned extra credit, Terry agreed right then and there, dragging Anthony and Draco along with him. 

Draco snickered when Lockhart fell on his arse after Professor Snape used _Expelliarmus_ on him. Draco knew for a fact that Snape didn't like Lockhart. He never did like frauds. 

"Students, come up, come up, pair up and fight! Harry, come up here, let’s show everyone how it’s done, yes?" Lockhart forced Harry up onto the stage, and Draco suddenly remembered the Parseltongue incident. He wondered how that would happen now. 

Snape looked at him. "Perhaps Mr. Malfoy would be a good duelling partner?" He raised an eyebrow and Draco sighed, knowing that he would have to go up there. 

"I don't see why not!" Lockhart smiled and almost all the girls fawned over him instantly. 

Draco got up onto the stage, walked up to Harry, and bowed. Harry hesitated for a moment before bowing as well. He clearly didn't know what he was doing. 

Draco held his wand up to his face and walked backwards. 

He wouldn't use the _Serpensortia_ curse this time. 

Harry raised his wand, making the wand movement for the _Expelliarmus_ , when the rage was back. It was sudden, like a jolt of pain; but, instead of going away, it only grew in intensity. He wanted to _hurt_ Harry, he just felt so _angry_ towards him. He didn't want to kill Harry; oh no, he wanted to humiliate him, make him feel alone. 

Images of Harry on the floor, crying while his friends looked at him in disgust flooded into his mind, and Draco smiled. 

He jerked his wand up. 

_"Serpensortia!"_

A snake flew out of Draco's wand. Harry barely had any time to react, and when he did, he was frozen in shock. The snake slithered towards Harry, hissing at the students as he passed them. 

"Stand back, Potter! I'll get rid of it." Snape strolled towards the snake but stopped when he heard Harry talking. But that was the strange part; Harry was just talking. He didn't know why everyone seemed so confused. 

_"Don't."_ Harry whispered, but his voice had a sort of ethereal tone to it, a different, quieter voice alongside Harry's in the background. Harry said a few other words after 'Don't' but Draco couldn't understand them... well, he could, but they didn't make sense. They had an element of hissing to them, but they sounded like random words strung together; gibberish. 

The snake looked at Harry, and then reluctantly turned back to the Hufflepuff. 

_"Don't."_ Harry whispered again. This time, the snake obeyed and turned away from the Hufflepuff completely. Snape chose this moment to act and vanished the snake. 

The Hufflepuff looked at Harry. "What are you playing at?" His voice quivered. 

Harry looked confused, and Draco was as well. Harry didn't do anything wrong. Ron and Hermione climbed onto the stage and led Harry off. 

"This meeting is over!" Snape yelled at the remaining students. 

"Draco!" He heard someone call his name, but he was still stuck there, stunned by the realization. 

_He could understand Parseltongue._

**********************

“Draco, why are you checking out books pertaining to Parseltongue?” Snape appeared behind Draco. 

He flinched but looked back at Snape who was looming over him, looking at him with an accusing glare. 

“P-Professor, just a bit of research.” He yawned. 

Snape quirked an eyebrow, “Is something wrong, Draco? You look paler than normal.” 

“What?” Draco had zoned out. “Oh, yes Professor.” Draco grabbed his books and left the library, leaving Snape behind. 

***************

"Draco, are you coming to the Quidditch match?" Anthony came up to him while he was studying in the library. Draco looked up from his book. 

"What Quidditch match?" A boy next to Anthony laughed. It took a minute, but Draco eventually recognized the boy as Terry Boot, one of Anthony's friends. 

"Come on, Draco. We know you don't come to the Quidditch matches, but you have to know about the Slytherin vs. Gryffindor match today!" Terry sat down next to him. 

"Oh...you want me to come with you?" Draco addressed Anthony. 

"Yup! We get to cheer on Gryffindor… unless... you don't want to cheer on Potter?" Anthony's face softened. 

"No! I'll come with you!" Draco fake-smiled. He still didn't know what he had said about Harry. 

"Awesome!" Terry cheered next to him. 

"Well, it's in a few hours, so until then we can hang out with Luna." Terry snatched his arm. Draco barely had any time to grab his book before Terry started dragging him where he assumed Luna was. 

Draco wasn't really walking towards Luna; he was being dragged by Terry while Anthony was bouncing next to them, blabbing about something. He learned two things right there: Terry was abnormally strong and energetic, and Anthony couldn't stop talking for more than two minutes. 

Luna was laying down on the grass near Hagrid's hut. The weather was chilly, but not unbearably so. Draco quite enjoyed cold weather. He liked the feeling of the cool air on his face as well as the feeling of warm air hitting him when he went back into Hogwarts. 

"Draco." Luna got up and hugged him, Luna always hugged him for some reason when they met; she didn't do handshakes. 

She fist-bumped Anthony and did a weird series of hand movements towards Terry, which he mimicked. Once she was done greeting them, she turned back to Draco and looked above his head, frowning. 

"There are a lot of Wrackspurts around you, Draco. But don't worry! We can fix that!" Luna smiled, and that was how he found himself laughing for the first time in quite a while. 

And he felt better. 

*********************

Draco sat down in the Gryffindor stands with Luna, Anthony and Terry. Luna and Terry were quite excited about this. Luna had covered her whole face in Gryffindor colours, while Terry was holding a sign that was charmed to yell 'Go Gryffindor!'

Draco and Anthony were quietly talking (well, Anthony was talking.) Draco wasn't really paying attention to him, the other boy never had anything of value to say anyways. 

And then, the players came out. 

"Shh!" Draco put a finger to his mouth, addressing Anthony. He wanted to watch the game. 

It started off as normal: the Slytherins were cheating, while the Gryffindors were trying their best not to fall off their brooms. Gryffindor scored most of the time-- the Slytherin Keeper was trash. 

Everything was going great, and Draco was getting excited-- it was weird seeing Harry play from the stands, but it was also exhilarating! 

And then, things started getting weird. A Bludger came out of nowhere and almost hit Harry, that would have been normal if the Bludger didn't come back, again, and again. Oh, he had forgotten that this happened! 

Harry was a natural though, he dodged the Bludger (just barely.) 

Nott flew up to Harry, most likely mocking him, when the Snitch came up right next to him. Nott didn't notice it (how thick could you be?) but Harry did. Even when a Bludger was chasing him, he dove after the Snitch. Nott followed him right after, and they plunged into the foundation of the pitch. Draco couldn't see them, but he wasn't worried; he knew that Harry would make it out alive. He had last time. 

It seemed like an eternity, but eventually, Harry came out of the foundation, catching the snitch, while Nott fell off his broom and landed on his arse. 

The stands around him let out a cheer. Terry started bouncing up and down while Luna grabbed Anthony's hand-- most likely crushing it, given how Anthony's face screwed up in pain. 

Draco let out a sigh. He knew what would happen, but there was always that nagging feeling in the back of his mind: what if this time was different? 

A few of the teachers rushed up to help Harry. He was holding his arm; it was clearly broken. Draco wasn't worried about the broken arm; what he was worried about was that Lockhart was the one healing it. 

He didn't have to be close to see it: Lockhart had fucked up in some way. From where he was sitting, he couldn't get a good look at it, but something was wrong with Harry's arm. 

He should visit Harry in the Hospital Wing-

_Don't._

He shouldn't visit Harry in the Hospital Wing. 

******************

Draco rushed back into Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. He needed Tom back. It had been another month since he had gotten rid of the Diary, and the need just seemed to flourish over that time. He ran to the stall where he had flushed the Diary. It wasn't there (of course it wasn't.) 

Where did sewage go? 

"Why are you here?" an irritatingly high voice called out. 

Draco turned to the left, where he saw a transparent person leaning into him. He backed away; once it wasn't directly in his face, he recognized the ghost as Moaning Myrtle. He had forgotten that she haunted this bathroom. 

"Myrtle! You didn't happen to see a... a book, did you?" Draco was acutely aware of how desperate his voice sounded. 

Myrtle seemed to notice it too, given how she giggled. "The same book that you flushed down the toilet, that was awfully rude you know!" she berated him. 

"I'm sorry! But have you seen it?" Draco asked once again. 

"Well... _maaaaaybe_..." She trailed off, seemingly enjoying his misery. 

"Myrtle, please tell me where it is..." 

Myrtle giggled. "That brown-haired girl took it."

Brown-haired-

_Hermione._

Draco ran out of the bathroom. Hermione had his book. 

He didn't stop to think, he ran to the entrance to the Gryffindor common room and knocked on the door. 

"Password?" The Fat Lady asked in a regal voice. 

He didn't know the-

_Pig Snout._

_"Pig Snout."_

The Fat Lady looked shocked, but opened the door. "They're not supposed to tell the password to those outside of their house," she mumbled. 

Draco ran into the common room. There were a few people in there, one of which was Seamus Finnigan. 

"Malfoy? Why are you here?" he asked. 

"Hermione." He panted, exhausted from all that running. 

"Oh, did she send you to get some of the ingredients in her room?" 

Ingredients?- 

_"Yes."_

Seamus smiled and led him to Hermione's room. "We're not supposed to be in the girl's dorms, but I don't think McGonagall will mind if you're helping someone out," Seamus told him, and then left. 

Draco waited until he saw that Seamus was gone. When he was, he closed the door to the room and immediately launched himself towards Hermione's corner, tearing her pillows apart, pulling out drawers, looking in her cupboard and ripping her curtains. 

After a few minutes of frantic searching, he clutched the diary to his chest, muttering under his breath. "Sorry," he gasped, "sorry, Tom, I'm so sorry-"


	18. Chapter 18

"My room!" Hermione shrieked.

Harry cringed. Everything was torn; fluff was coming out of her pillows, her clothes were all over the floor, even her bedsheets were torn. He looked at Ron. "Who could have done this?"

"It had to be a Gryffindor, no one else would be able to come into Hermione's room," Ron shrugged.

Harry nodded but stopped when he saw Seamus rubbing the back of his neck, looking down.  
"Seamus?" he asked.

"Well... you see... I might have shown Draco into your room earlier today. He looked weird." Seamus shrugged and Hermione whipped around.

"Draco?" she asked, narrowing her eyes.

"I thought you sent him to get ingredients," Seamus frowned.

"No! I didn't!" Hermione smacked Seamus on the back of his head and started scolding him.

Ron turned to Harry, ignoring Hermione. "Why would Malfoy tear up Hermione's room?"

Ron was still using Draco's last name. At least he wasn't spitting out accusations; they were making progress. Harry looked back at the room.

"I have no idea." Harry had theories, but he doubted any of them would be true. Draco was clearly looking for something. Maybe he had found it; maybe he hadn’t.

"Hermione." Harry got her attention and she finally left poor Seamus alone.

"Is it ready?" Harry asked her, mindful that Seamus was in the room.

Hermione's face brightened. "Yes! It is! Come on." She ushered them out of the room, but before she closed the door, she looked back at Seamus.

"Clean it up," she ordered, and slammed the door.

*******************

"I just had to ask Luna for her hair and she gave it to me," Hermione shrugged when Ron asked. Conveniently, Anthony and Terry gave each other hair-cuts, so finding their hair wasn't exactly a chore.

She dropped the hair into the green sludge that was the Polyjuice potion. They had agreed that she would drink the one with Luna's hair, Ron would drink Terry's, and Harry would drink Anthony's.

"Cheers!" Ron chirped, and they knocked their glasses together.

Ron and Harry hesitated for a moment before drinking the potion, while Hermione drank it right away. It took a moment, but eventually, their bodies started changing. It was a weird feeling, and it looked even weirder in the mirror.

Hermione gasped, "I think I'm going to be sick." She gagged and ran into a stall, shutting the door.

Ron waited for a moment before gagging as well. "Oh," he moaned, and ran into another stall, shutting the door as well.

Harry was now the only one who wasn't in a stall. He looked in the mirror and cringed.

Their bodies began to... bubble, and their features began to change and morph and warp. Harry's hair began to change, getting shorter and changing to blonde. His skin got lighter, and his eyes changed to blue. His scar was no longer visible. Harry could feel his bones rearranging, it was a horrible feeling. The Gryffindor emblem on his clothes morphed into the Ravenclaw bird.

Inside the stall, Ron's hair darkened from its normal fiery red to a light brown, his freckles disappeared but his eye colour stayed the same.

Across from Ron's stall, Hermione watched as her hair flattened out, slowly becoming blond; her eyes lightened from their normal hazel to silvery-blue-grey.

All of their uniforms changed. The red lining changed to blue while the badge that proudly presented the Lion of Gryffindor changed to a thoughtful looking Raven. Hermione didn't know how a Raven could look thoughtful, it just...did.

Terry (or at least, Ron looked exactly like Terry) came out of his stall, looking at himself. When he looked at Harry, he gasped.

"You look exactly like him!" Fake Terry exclaimed.

Harry nodded, about to say something, but stopped when he heard a sniffle come from Hermione's stall. He looked at Ron and they both slowly walked up to the stall and knocked on the door.

"Hermione?" Ron inquired.

When they didn't get an answer, Harry opened the stall door only to find Hermione facing the wall, crying silently.

"Hermione?" Ron asked again.

Hermione finally turned to face them. She had bunny ears sticking out of her head, and her nose had become much smaller; whiskers were sprouting out of her cheeks and her whole face was covered in white fur. She looked a tad bit like Luna, blonde hair and silvery eyes, but you could only see it when you got past the fact that she looked like a bunny.

"I asked her for hair! Not for hair of a hare!" she sobbed.

Harry cringed, but suddenly he came up with an idea. He pulled out his invisibility cloak (he had taken to bringing it with him wherever he went).

"Here, you can use this." He handed her the cloak.

She hesitated for a moment before nodding and putting it over her. "I'll be right behind you," she muttered, and they nodded at where they thought she was.

****************

He yawned, collapsing onto the couch. Draco was so tired. For some reason, the tiredness had increased throughout today. He had taken multiple naps, but it didn't go away.

The Diary was in his room; he had been researching talking objects, but he couldn't find anything like Tom. He would talk to Tom today, but right now, he needed to sleep. Draco brushed his hair out of his face and put his hands under his head and closed his eyes.

"Hey, mate." Someone called out and Draco groaned; didn't they see he was trying to sleep?

"What?" He looked over; it was Anthony and Terry, who were alarmingly quiet.

"So... what's up?" Terry asked, rubbing the back of his neck.

Now he was getting worried; Terry was acting shy, even awkward. That wasn’t like him.

"Terry, are you feeling alright?" He walked up to him, concern showing on his face.

"What? Yeah, I'm fine. Why?" Terry backed away.

"You're acting...shy." Terry and shy did not go together.

"He's just feeling a bit under the weather." Anthony looked worried, were they hiding something from him? Strangely enough, Draco couldn't find the energy to care.

"The real question is, are _you okay?_ " Anthony put his hand on his forehead and his eyes widened.

"You're freezing!" He exclaimed and rushed him over to the lit fireplace. It was no use, he wouldn't feel warmer. He had given up on feeling warmer a few hours ago.

"Yeah, I think I might be coming down with-" Draco got cut off by another coughing fit. He put his mouth in the crook of his elbow.

"You're definitely coming down with something," Terry said next to him.

"Obviously-" He looked up but cut himself off again.

Leave.

He had to leave. His breathing picked up. He had to get out of here. His heart started hammering in his chest. _He had to get out of here!_ Terry and Anthony were saying something, but their voices sounded warped and far away. He pushed Anthony away and ran to his dorm.

His vision blurred and he fell to the floor, overwhelmed by fear. He coughed again, and the fact that air was leaving him only increased his panic. It felt like someone had their hands on his throat; like they were screaming in his ear and he couldn't do anything. His legs wouldn't cooperate with him.

There was a small part of him that knew that he wasn't dying, that this was most likely a panic attack, but that was only a small part. The other parts were completely convinced that he was going to diediediedie--

Get up.

He didn't know how, but he got up. His legs felt like jelly. He couldn't control them, but he knew that he was closing the door and putting a locking charm on it. The panic was starting to decrease, the hands around his neck not as tight now, but breathing was still a problem.

He walked over to where he had hidden The Diary under his desk drawer and pulled Tom out. There was a quill and inkbottle on top of it of the nightstand. He didn't know where it came from, he hadn't put it there.

He heard banging in the direction of his door. Anthony and Terry were probably knocking on it. But he wouldn't let them in. He couldn't let them in.

Draco hadn't noticed, but he had opened the diary and was now writing in it. It was just one word.

'Tom.'

He thought he heard a gasp when the writing vanished almost immediately and new writing took its place.

'Draco.'

And the world went dark.

*********************

Hermione gasped again as Draco fell to the floor. She had followed him to his room when he had run away from Harry and Ron; thank Merlin for the invisibility cloak. Draco didn't stay on the floor for long. He slowly got off the floor and walked to the door.

She didn't know how to describe it, but Draco felt wrong. He looked exactly the same, except for the eerie smirk on his face. Like he knew something that Hermione didn't.

Draco opened the door. Harry and Ron were gone; had it already been over an hour?

He looked around left and right with an impassive stare on his face.

"Where did they go?" Draco tilted his head, and Hermione's hairs stood on end. That was not Draco's voice. It sounded older. It only barely resembled Draco's drawl, but the voice itself could never be Draco's. His voice sounded...mean..uncaring. Draco sometimes sounded mean, sometimes he sounded uncaring, but there was never any truth to it, there was never any heat behind his insults. This voice was different. There was a small undertone to it, Draco's voice was hidden beneath it.

Draco turned left and walked down the hallway, most likely leaving the room. Hermione didn't want to follow him, but she needed to know what was happening. Maybe following him would lead to clues, and she had the invisibility cloak.

She took a deep breath and took off in Draco’s direction.

She only just caught Draco leaving. She left the common room and tailed Draco as he walked down the hallway. She didn't know where he was going. He turned multiple times, but he didn't look lost, walking with purpose confidently. He held his chin up high and the eerie grin never left his face.

Finally, he stopped walking and Hermione stopped in her tracks when she heard him start hissing.

Many things ran through her head. The first was that Draco was a Parseltongue. The second was chilling: Draco was the Heir of Slytherin.

But it wasn't Draco. She didn't know what it was, but it wasn't Draco.

Draco suddenly stopped hissing, but a new hissing took its place. It was in the walls.

"It looks like there's someone near _here..._ " He trailed off and looked in her direction, seeming amused. That was when she noticed that his eyes had a red tinge to them.

Draco walked over to her and looked her in the eyes and spoke one word. 

"Mudblood."

Hermione didn't think.

Hermione ran.


	19. Chapter 19

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I got my first fan art! If I upload this on Wattpad, I'm _so_ using this as a cover, with the artist's permission of course!
> 
> I'm so sorry for not updating sooner; I was in a bit of a funk.

“Hermione!" Ron and Harry rushed up to a frazzled looking Hermione. She had just burst into the Gryffindor common room.

"What's wrong?" Ron asked.

Hermione was panting. Her face was drained of colour, her eyes blown wide. Adrenaline was running through her veins and her heart was hammering in her chest. She had barely heard Ron's question. "It-It was Draco. Something's wrong with him--the book."

Her eyes narrowed. It was the book. The book that she had found in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom.

"Remember that day we found Draco in the bathroom? When he was flushing something down the toilet?" Hermione looked Ron in the eye.

"Yes...?" Ron's eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"There's something wrong with that book," Hermione swallowed.

Ron and Harry looked at her, urging her to continue.

"It's...changed Draco somehow, he's different; like someone else is controlling him." Hermione narrowed her eyes when Ron scoffed.

"Hermione, that's a load of bollocks. How could a book possess someone?" Ron laughed despite the withering glare Hermione was giving him.

"I don't know! If you were there then you would see! It's not our Draco--" Hermione stopped short when something occurred to her: they had left Draco in his time of need. Yes, he had called her that word, but he was her friend; she should have given him a chance to explain himself.

Hermione took a shallow breath. "Oh god, we left him when he needed us," she whispered.

He had been there for her when she hadn't been able to make a single friend, he had been there for her when she was crying all alone in the library. He had been there for her! And what did she do in return? Leave him when he needed her most.

"You're serious." Ron's eyes were wide.

"That's why he looks so awful! He fainted and then that... thing took him over. Merlin, what type of friends are we?" Her vision blurred and she sat down on the couch in front of the fireplace.

Ron sat down on her left, while Harry took her right. Harry put a hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry, Hermione, we'll figure something out."

Ron nodded, "Yeah, I mean, we might not have Draco, but you're bloody brilliant. You'll figure something out, and we'll help you. Maybe I was wrong about Malfoy..." Ron trailed off, looking guilty but thoughtful.

Hermione sniffed and wiped her nose with her sleeve. "Yeah. Okay, step one, we have to talk to Draco--"

"Justin's been petrified!" Dean burst into the common room looking pale.

"What--" Hermione was cut off yet again as the Gryffindors ran down from their dorms.

"Justin's been petrified?" Lavender asked, looking pale.

"They just found him," Dean nodded.

Hermione exchanged a look with Ron and Harry and they left the common room, going to meet Dumbledore. This was getting out of hand; if they couldn't talk to Draco, then they would have Dumbledore do it. Maybe Dumbledore already knew, he did seem to know everything…

"Where are you going?" Dean asked in suspicion right as they were about to leave.

"Library," Hermione answered and glared at Dean, challenging him to say otherwise. Dean gulped and nodded. It was nice to know that at least somebody was scared of her wrath.

Hermione ushered Harry and Ron out of the tower.

"Come on," she said, and they followed her to Dumbledore's tower.

She stopped short when she remembered that she didn't have a clue what the password was. She looked at Harry and Ron, hoping that maybe they would know. But they didn't.

"What are you three doing here?" A voice spoke from behind them. It was Professor McGonagall.

"Professor! We need to speak to Dumbledore." Hermione spoke in a tone that clearly said that this was serious.

McGonagall sighed but said the password. "Sherbert Lemon."

The Griffin started to spin around slowly, revealing a spiral staircase.

"I should let you know that Mr Malfoy is already meeting with Dumbledore right now," Professor McGonagall said as she stepped onto the staircase with them. Hermione's ears perked up at that.

"Draco's with him?" She wondered why Draco would be there; well, she had an idea for why he would be there. Maybe Dumbledore really did know about Draco's predicament.

"Yes," Professor McGonagall nodded.

A horrifying thought occurred to her. What if Dumbledore was going to expel Draco? She didn't know what she would do then, and she didn't like not knowing things. If Dumbledore really did try to expel Draco, she might yell at him. No, she would yell at him. She would _yell_ at the Headmaster; because this was not Draco's fault! It was that 'Tom's' fault.

She burst into the Headmaster's office and yelled, "Headmaster you can't expel Draco! It wasn't his fault! I can vouch for him--"

"Miss Granger, no one is going to expel Mr Malfoy." Dumbledore stopped her speech.

She looked at Draco (who looked paler than a sheet of paper). His eyes were wide and clouded with fear and suspicion. They had a glassy look to them, and his mouth was open slightly. He was taking shallow breaths. She glanced at Harry and Ron, who were standing on either side of her, and saw the despair on Harry's face at seeing Draco look…

Well, he looked like death; there was no nice way of putting it, honestly.

"Why are you here?" Draco rasped, and oh, his voice sounded horrible. That was Draco's voice, but he sounded like a Kneazle who had just coughed up a hairball.

"Draco, I know about him." She glanced at Dumbledore. She had planned to tell him what was happening, but Draco had talked to them, he had asked them why they were there. Yes, it was only one sentence, but it was a whole lot better than when he was avoiding them like the plague. He had made the first move; maybe Hermione could talk some sense into him and make him come forward on his own.

Draco paled even more at that, and Hermione swore she could see his organs through his skin.

Draco wobbled to a stand and walked over to her.

"Draco, we can help you, please just let us--" Hermione was cut off yet again.

"No! No Hermione! I don't want your help! I don't want anyone's help!" Draco's voice sounded distorted at the end, and he slapped his hand over his mouth. When he retracted his hand, he was looking at it in horror. He was looking at _himself_ in horror.

Draco looked at Dumbledore, then glanced at all of them.

And then he ran out of the office.

Hermione tried to stop him. "Draco!" she called out, but he didn't listen to her; he just kept on running.

"That didn't go well," Harry muttered under his breath. Harry rubbed the back of his neck, looked at Dumbledore, looked at them, and then muttered a quiet, "I'm just gonna go find Draco." He left the room.

Before Hermione and Ron could leave, Dumbledore spoke up. "There is something happening with Mr Malfoy," he stated.

Hermione looked at him, ready to say something, but before she could, Ron said something. "I know, there's something super wrong with Draco..." He still looked guilty and kept his gaze on the floor.

"How do I talk to him?" Hermione asked Dumbledore. She trusted him; maybe he could help her. She had no idea how she would suddenly start talking to Draco after so many months of ignoring him. She wasn't like Harry; she didn't have the same connection that he had with Draco.

"Miss Granger, I believe that is something that you will have to find out yourself." Dumbledore smiled.

Hermione nodded. She hadn't expected much from Dumbledore, she knew he spoke in riddles. Normally Hermione had a fun time trying to decode them, but right now she really just needed someone to tell her what to do. She didn't want to mess anything up anymore.

She heard Ron huff next to her. He nudged her in the side, signalling her to follow him. Ron looked thoughtful for once in his life. Hermione wasn't saying that Ron was stupid; he clearly had the potential, but he didn't put in the effort. Even then, he still had qualities. He was a Gryffindor to the core and embodied all the things that Godric Gryffindor wanted in his students.

He was brave, confident and wasn't afraid to speak up for his friends, even if it meant having to hurt his friend's feelings. People tended to underestimate Ron, but she didn't. Well, she used to, until Draco had explained that people could be smart without having to crack open a book... or even study.

She winced at the thought of Draco. Guilt still overwhelmed her. She thought she could hear Draco's voice telling her otherwise: he would say that it wasn't her fault, and then blame himself for whatever had happened. She sighed. She had thought that she knew him, she had thought that she was right when she had stopped being Draco's friend.

She couldn't have been more wrong.

"Hermione, Harry's probably talking to Draco, right?" Ron said once they were out of the Headmaster's office.

"Yes?" She tilted her head.

"Okay. I'm going to sound crazy, I know, but let's go to the library." It looked like it physically pained Ron to say those words, and despite the circumstances, Hermione giggled.

"Why? If Harry's talking to Draco, we could talk to him as well. Maybe he's calmed down," she reasoned.

"No; Draco and Harry have this thing. Harry knew that something was wrong before any of us even thought of it. He's always been different when it comes to Draco. We can go to the library and find out what's been petrifying all the students! If we defeat whatever's in the Chamber, then Draco'll be fine!" He seemed proud of himself for coming up with such an idea.

Hermione sighed. "Do you ever do things the easy way, Ron?" She smiled.

***************

Draco sat down on the stairs in the hallway. He curled in on himself, put his arms around his legs and put his head on his knees. He didn't have time to do anything else before someone came barrelling down the stairs.

"Draco," Harry said. His glasses were crooked and his hair was mussed.

"What do you want, Potter?" He didn't want to talk; he wanted to be alone.

"Draco, please listen. I'm sorry, I knew it wasn't you. I know that something’s wrong. Please, just let us help you." Harry rushed to get all the words out as if he was scared that Draco would run away. He probably would.

"You know that something's wrong?" Draco looked at him.

"Yes! Hermione figured it out, but I helped! We know that something's wrong and we'll help you. I mean, what are friends for, right?" He tried to smile.

Draco tried to be angry at that. Draco still thought they were friends…

Draco still wanted to be friends--

But he didn't--

He wanted to be friends--

But you don't--

Draco cried out, holding his head in his hands.

"Draco?" Harry said tentatively, putting his hand on his shoulder.

"I'm just so tired, Harry." Draco's voice sounded wobbly. He was fighting to keep the tears at bay. He had cried enough; he wouldn't anymore.

He saw Harry's face soften. "I'm so sorry, Draco. We've been awful this year, but we won't be anymore," he promised.

Draco's head throbbed again, and he whimpered. He couldn't do this alone. He knew that he couldn't do this alone. He always knew. It was Tom who made him think otherwise. It was Tom who made him do this. It wasn't him.

Rage flared once again, but this time, it was Draco's, and this time, he was in control. He looked at Harry, his eyes blazing, and opened his mouth.

"Let's get this son of a bitch."


	20. Chapter 20

_"Incendio!"_ Hermione yelled again. Streaks of fire came out of her wand and hit the Diary. The fire stayed there for a good thirty seconds before disappearing. She inspected it, looking for the slightest blemish, but nothing. The Diary was perfectly fine. 

She had tried everything! Most of her day was spent trying to destroy the bloody thing. She worked on it so much that the Gryffindors were used to hearing her scream _Diffindo_ and _Reducto_ almost 24/7.

Hermione cried out in frustration. Ron sighed again; he hadn't done much of anything. It was quite weird seeing Ron reading a book _willingly_. He had decided to go for the book on dangerous magical creatures. Turning back to the Diary, she got ready to yell another spell when she heard someone whimper.

Looking over, she saw Draco standing at the doorway looking at the Diary in horror. 

"Draco, you're not supposed to be here." Hermione put herself between the Diary and Draco. Harry was supposed to be looking over him, making sure he didn't do anything. It was a risk keeping Draco so close to the Diary, but as long as someone was watching him, he seemed to be fine. They had a system: Gryffindors would look after Draco during the evenings, and the Ravenclaws (Luna, Anthony and Terry) would look after Draco during classes and at night. 

The Ravenclaws knew about Draco's predicament. Hermione had told them. There was no point in keeping secrets from them. 

"I know...I just..." He trailed off, his eyes never leaving the Diary. Just then, Harry came barreling into the common room. 

"Sorry, Hermione! We were in the library—he disappeared." Harry looked noticeably dishevelled; he must have run all the way to the Gryffindor common room from the library. 

Suddenly, Ron sprung up, looking triumphant. "It's a Basilisk!" 

Hermione looked at him in confusion. "What?" 

"Look, it says that spiders will flee from it, and remember the spiders that ran away at Hagrid's hut and at the window. It's a snake, so that explains the whole hissy voice thing in the pipes, and come on, it's a snake!" Ron shrugged. 

Hermione snatched the book out of his hands, immediately spotting a flaw in the theory. "It says that the Basilisk will _kill_ it's victims."

Ron deflated. 

"Can I see that?" Draco asked. 

Hermione shrugged and handed the page to Draco. 

"What if they didn't look directly at it?" Draco questioned and Hermione's eyes widened. 

"The puddle with Mrs Norris!" 

"And the mirror with Justin." Draco nodded, a small smile on his face. 

"And Moaning Myrtle told us about yellow eyes," Harry chimed in, looking happy. 

"You're both brilliant!" Harry hugged Draco and Ron made an offended sound.

"Don't forget who actually found the thing!" Ron squawked. Hermione laughed, putting a hand on his shoulder. 

"Let the lovebirds have their moment, Ron, no one's forgetting you." Hermione whispered so that only they could hear; she knew how defensive Harry got when someone mentioned his obvious crush on Draco.

"What now?" Ron asked. 

"It says that the cry of a rooster can kill it," Hermione said. Draco nodded. 

"Dobby!" Draco called out. Harry stiffened. 

A crack sounded in the air, and a small elf creature stood in the middle of the room looking around with big green eyes. When his eyes landed on Draco he rushed over to him. 

"Young Master Malfoy!" he squeaked and Harry looked at him in astonishment. 

"Dobby, we need a rooster. You should keep one with you, and when we call for you, bring it with you." Draco ordered in a high and mighty voice. It was odd, hearing him like that. 

Dobby nodded and disappeared leaving a stunned silence behind him. Draco seemed oblivious to the tension, however, and he turned back to Harry with the same small smile on his face. 

"You know Dobby?" Harry questioned. 

Draco's eyes widened. " _You_ know Dobby?" he returned. 

"Is Dobby that elf that tried to kill you with the Bludger?" Ron asked. 

Draco gasped. "Dobby was behind the Bludger?" he said, mostly to himself. 

"I didn't know that," Draco addressed Harry. 

"He said that he had a Master, I just didn't know that it was you." Harry tilted his head, looking oddly thoughtful. 

" _Masters_ , plural. He belongs to the family. His true Master would be my father. House-elves always listen to the Head of the Family before anyone else. He'll be passed on to me unless my father frees him." Draco scoffed at the end. 

"Not like he ever would." He rolled his eyes. 

"Dobby said that his Masters threatened him," Harry said, and Draco looked down, a glimmer of sadness in his eyes.

"Father treats the elves horribly, but for some reason, he hates Dobby most of all. Probably because Dobby's not like most elves; he actually wants to be free." Draco shrugged. 

"But you would never treat him like that." Harry said and Hermione agreed. Draco would never treat anyone horribly. Unless they had done something to him first; then he could be vicious.

"No, I wouldn't." 

Harry didn't say anything after that, but his eyebrows were furrowed. He was _thinking_ , such an odd look on him. 

"Tonight," Hermione said, and their focus turned to her.

"Tonight what?" Ron questioned. 

"We'll go into the chamber tonight." Their eyes widened. 

"We don't even know where it is," Harry said and Hermione smiled. 

" _You_ don't know where the Chamber is." Hermione paused, leaving them in suspense. 

"I was looking, and you know Myrtle's bathroom. There's a sink there with a snake on it. Myrtle died in that bathroom and she heard hissing before she died. Parseltongue." Hermione puffed up triumphantly, she was proud of herself. 

"Of course," Draco breathed. 

"Alright, tonight." Everyone nodded. 

Hermione got the Diary and made to leave the room with Ron when she heard Harry say something to Draco. "So, I saw this and thought of you, so..." 

She smiled, Harry was listening to her, he had given Draco the flower that she had recommended. She sighed... lovebirds.

********************

Draco yawned. He wanted to fall asleep but he couldn't seem to with Hermione's constant chattering in the background. Not to mention the fact that every time he closed his eyes Hermione would hit him with a book, and they were _heavy_

He stretched on his chair and rubbed his eyes, trying to shoo the sleepiness away from him. But it just seemed to grow by the second. He didn't want Hermione to feel bad that he wasn't listening to what she was saying. He was sure she was saying something important, but he just couldn't seem to care. 

_"Draco,"_ he heard Hermione whine in the background, but his eyes were already half-closed. 

"Sorry," he mumbled. 

*************************

Hermione couldn't believe Draco had fallen asleep. They were supposed to be _studying_ , Draco was already so far behind with the whole Diary thing. She knew that he needed his sleep, but he also needed to _study_. She got the book ready again when Draco's eyes snapped open. 

She flinched back at the rage in his eyes. 

This wasn't Draco. But that was impossible, they had separated the Diary from Draco. He hadn't been writing in it, so _why was he here?_

She looked around and paled when she didn't see anyone in sight. No one was around to see anything. She looked back at whoever it was and glared at them. She knew she couldn't fight them, but she would definitely try. 

"Petrificus Totalus!" she yelled, and was surprised when her voice came out clear despite the fear that was engulfing her. 

He seemed surprised for a moment, but only for a moment. He unsheathed his wand and cast a _Protego_. Despite the circumstances, she was angry at how amused he sounded; like he was toying with her. So what if he was more magically advanced than her. This person was a conceited git, that was clear.

She readied another spell but didn't even have time to cast the wand movement when she was suddenly overwhelmed by pain. She tried to scream but her voice wouldn't work. She fell to the ground, she couldn't move but she could see the blood oozing out of her left leg. There was a huge gash on it. Hermione couldn't think, she was blinded by pain. She struggled to breathe. 

Some part of her brain knew she was going into shock

Draco- or whoever it was- neared close to her. He peered at her with disgust. 

"Mudblood." He spat, his lip curling as he was shaking with anger. He must have recognized her, that was the only thing that could explain the absolute fury in his eyes.

"Thinking you could keep me away from my dearest Draco. Really, I don't know why he even deals with you in the first place. Oh wait, I do!" He laughed. 

He glanced at her in disgust one more time before he started hissing. 

Hermione knew what was going to happen, and the mere thought shot ice into her veins. She had to think.

Something shined next to her, and she saw her mirror lying next to her abandoned school supplies. She felt dizzy from the blood loss but reached out for the mirror. She just barely grabbed it when she saw _yellow eyes in the reflection--_


	21. Chapter 21

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the late update! It's Ramadan and I normally spend the whole day wallowing in fanfiction complaining about how hungry I am. 
> 
> Now that I'm done with excuses, you can read this chapter. 
> 
> Farewell, my darling reader's!

"Have you seen Hermione?" Ron said at the same time as Harry asked, "Have you seen Draco?" 

That made them both pause. "Didn't Hermione say she was going to study with Draco?" Ron asked, horror slowly creeping into his voice. 

"And Hermione has the diary," Harry said, eyes wide. 

Ron stopped for a moment before saying the two words that summed up how they were both feeling. "Bloody hell." 

They took off towards the library.

****************

Harry felt himself filling with dread as he saw the group of people in the library. He pushed through the crowd, Ron behind him. All the teachers, as well as the Headmaster, were standing at the front of the crowd. 

"Headmaster?" Harry asked, his voice small. 

Professor McGonagall whipped around, her lips pursed. But what worried Harry the most was how... less cheery the Headmaster looked. The twinkle in his eyes was gone and his normally mysterious smile was replaced by a deep frown. Harry knew something was wrong. 

"Hermione?" Ron questioned next to him. 

Professor McGonagall's frown deepened and she led them into a secluded corner of the library where the other students couldn't hear them. 

"I'm so sorry, you two," she said. 

"Hermione?" Ron said again, this time sadder and laced with fear. 

"Infirmary." 

"Is she--" Ron cut himself off, seemingly unable to finish the sentence. 

"She's alive. She's petrified." McGonagall said. 

"Draco?--" Harry was cut off by McGonagall, who had suddenly gone rigid. 

"You should go see your friend," she said and got up, going back to the other teachers. 

Harry stood there, shocked. Something was wrong. Something was terribly wrong. 

"Come on!" Ron said and grabbed his hand, leading him through the group of students and in the direction of the Hospital wing. 

He could hear the chatter of the students, but they sounded far away and warped. He was worried. He didn't think he'd ever been this worried before. He was worried about Hermione, but he was _really_ worried about Draco. Professor McGonagall had completely ignored him when he had asked about him, but she had heard him. The only reason she would do that was if something was really wrong. 

Maybe Draco was dead? The thought turned his blood cold. Draco was his best friend. Even more so than Ron. Ron had Hermione and Harry had Draco. Sure; Hermione and Draco liked to poke fun at Harry and Ron. But in the end, Harry and Draco were always best friends. If Draco was dead, then Harry would never be able to tell Draco how he felt about him. How he saw them as more then friends. 

That blasted diary. 

They should've gotten rid of it. Should have thrown it into the forbidden forest and let it be eaten by the creatures that lived there. Maybe that would've done it. 

"Harry!" someone yelled. It was Ron. 

"Yeah?" he said, grabbing Ron's hands to stop him from shaking Harry. 

"You zoned out on me," Ron said. 

Harry looked around. They were in the hospital wing. Hermione was laying down on one of the beds, frozen with a mirror in her hand and her eyes wide in terror. There was a large bandage on her left leg; it was clearly wounded. 

"What happened?" Harry breathed out in horror. 

"I don't know, but that's what we've gotta find out. Your invisibility cloak," Ron said suddenly. 

Harry looked at him, confused. "What about it?" 

"We're going to spy on the teachers." Ron declared loudly, his eyes lit with determination. 

Harry smiled, despite the fear he was feeling. Ron was a Gryffindor through and through. 

*********************

"You're stepping on my foot," Ron complained as they crept through the hallway. It was nighttime and they had just left the common room. The cloak really was not made for two people. Harry had barely managed to fit them both under it. 

"Shh!" Harry shushed for what had to be the millionth time in the last five minutes. 

Ron huffed but shut up nonetheless. 

"There," Ron whispered. 

There was a light shining from the hallway next to them. It was a faint glow that came from McGonagall's office. They could hear silent muttering coming from the office. Harry looked at Ron, warning him to be quiet. Ron rolled his eyes but nodded. 

They crept over to the office. The door was just slightly open, just enough for them to creep through.

The teachers were gathered around McGonagall's desk, all except Dumbledore. McGonagall stood behind her desk while the others stood in front of it. She looked incredibly stressed. 

"What was written on the wall, Minerva?" Snape asked in his same nasally voice. 

McGonagall hesitated for a moment, her frown deepening. "His skeleton will lie in the chamber forever." She looked away. 

Harry's breath caught, hoping, desperately hoping that it wasn't who he thought it was. 

"Who?" Professor Sprout asked hesitantly. 

McGonagall sighed, "Draco Malfoy." 

Flitwick squeaked and breathed, "Merlin, no." 

Snape stumbled and held onto a chair, his face draining of colour. 

Harry collapsed. Ron's eyes widened as he caught him just in time. Harry tried his best to stay quiet but he couldn't. Ron swore under his breath and led them both out of the room. Harry saw Lockhart entering the room through his blurry vision and faintly heard him say, "What did I miss?" 

He felt numb, like his whole world was falling apart.

As soon as they were out of the room Harry fell to the ground, muttering under his breath, "No, no, no." Tears sprung to his eyes, he wanted nothing more than to curl in on himself and cry. 

"Harry." Ron hissed, kneeling to Harry's side. 

"Draco." Harry choked out. 

Ron grabbed him by the shoulders and squeezed, hard. 

"Listen to me," Ron said in an authoritative voice that sounded completely unlike him. 

"We. Are. Going. To. Save. Him." Ron poked Harry in the chest between ever word. 

"How?" Harry asked. 

"I don't know, we'll think of it as we go along." Ron dragged Harry up. 

"We are going to save him, Harry. And you are _not_ going to stay here crying. Come on, let's save Malfoy." Ron crossed his arms. 

Ron's face fell, "Never thought I'd say that," He muttered under his breath. 

************************

Harry stood in front of the sink. He took a deep breath and spoke in parseltongue. _"Open."_

Ron's eyes widened; they always did when Harry spoke parseltongue.

The sink shifted, it responded. Once the sink was out of the way, you could see a long passage going almost straight down into what felt and looked like nothing; like a slide. You couldn't see the bottom of it, it was pitch black. All except for the faint drop of water echoing around the space. The slide itself looked smooth, a stark contrast to the jagged rocks that lined the walls of the slide. 

It looked like a plunge into death. It had an ominous aura around it, but that didn't stop Harry.

"We don't have to go... down that, do we?" Ron said behind him. 

"You fir--" Ron said but Harry was already ahead of him. 

He jumped and slid down the slide. 

"Harry!" He heard Ron call after him, but Harry didn't care. He was going to save Draco and he wouldn't let some scary slide get in the way of it.

He landed right on some rock. It hurt but he would be okay-

 _"Harry!"_ Ron yelled and Harry looked up just in time to see Ron coming straight down towards him. 

He fell on top of Harry; scratch the part about being okay. They both groaned in pain but Harry knew that Ron couldn't possibly be as hurt as he was. He had a human pillow to cushion his landing after all.

"Harry, are you alright?" Ron asked in alarm, concern written on his face. 

"I will be," Harry hissed, "When you get off me!" 

"Oh, right," Ron said and slid off of Harry's torso. 

Harry coughed and pulled himself up. He gave Ron a glare before looking around the room. It was more of a cave than a room. There was a big passage in front of them. That must be where Draco was. 

"Come on!" Harry said, ushering Ron to follow him through the cave. 

They entered a long tunnel with statues of snakes lining the sides of the hall. Their mouths were open and their fake tongues were out, hissing at them. The floor was decorated with a checker pattern; all in all, it was pretty fancy. A bright light shone at the end of the hall.

"That must be where Malf- Draco is." Ron corrected himself. Harry gave him a quick smile. 

"Did you bring the invisibility cloak?" Ron asked. 

"No..?" Harry asked slowly, was he supposed to?

Ron stopped and spun around, terror on his face, "Harry! I told you to bring it. How are we supposed to get past the _basilisk!?_ "

That was a good point. 

Harry shrugged. "By...fighting?" He smiled hesitantly. 

Ron facepalmed, "Why did I get stuck with the lovestruck puppy?" he muttered miserably. 

"Hurry, we have to get Draco." Harry chose to ignore Ron's words and continued down the hall. Yes, he was afraid of the basilisk, but that didn't mean he would give up on Draco. 

Nearing the end of the hall, Harry froze as he saw someone lying on the floor. 

Draco. 

His face was paler than ever. His hair wasn't tied in his normal ponytail, instead being draped on the floor. Everything about him looked dead. 

"Draco!" Harry yelled as he rushed over to him.

"Malfoy?" Ron had reverted back to using Draco's surname as he looked at Draco with fear.

"Draco, please, we can't be too late," Harry muttered to himself as he held Draco's body. He felt cold, so, _so_ cold. Harry's vision began to blur as the prospect of Draco being dead began to sink in. 

"He's not dead," someone drawled. 

Harry looked over to see a tall boy with curly dark brown hair standing in the shadows. He was wearing Slytherin robes and was holding Draco's wand. He didn't have to think, he knew who this was. 

"Tom," Harry spat out.

Tom raised an eyebrow in amusement. "Well, well, well, Potter knows my name," he said, walking over to him. 

"What did you do to him?!" he yelled, grief turning to anger. 

"You should really learn to respect your superiors, Potter." Tom completely ignored his question. It seemed like a barb, clearly meant to get a reaction out of him but Harry wouldn't let it get to him. Even if his insides really were burning with hatred.

"You lost, Tom. Even if...even if-" Harry couldn't bring himself to finish the sentence. 

He swallowed and tried to ground himself, pushing the thoughts of Draco out of his mind, he focused on Tom "....The mandrake draught will be prepared in a few hours. Everyone who's been petrified will be back," Harry said in triumph. 

"Oh, you seem to have it all wrong, Potter. Killing mudbloods is of no use to me now. For many months now, my target has been you." He pointed Draco's wand at Harry and another surge of anger overwhelmed him. 

"But, Hermione..." Ron spoke up from where he was standing at the end of the hall. 

Tom ignored him. "How is it that a baby with absolutely no magical talent managed to defeat the greatest wizard of all time, Lord Voldemort?" His voice had lost its amused tint and was now filled with rage as well as dark curiosity. 

"Why do you care what happened to Voldemort? He came to power long after you were alive," Ron said from behind Harry. 

This time, Tom paid attention to him. "Voldemort is my past, present and future." He smirked and turned around, using Draco's wand to write words in the air. 

His own name. 

He flicked his wand and the letters moved to rearrange themselves into a new word, a new sentence. 

_I am Lord Voldemort._

"You..." Harry gasped. 

Tom let out a cruel laugh. 

"Surely you didn't think I was going to keep my filthy muggle father’s name." He spat out in disgust. 

"No, I fashioned myself a new name, a name that I knew every wizard would fear to speak when I became the greatest sorcerer in the world." His eyes had a red tint to them as his voice became louder and louder. 

"You're wrong! Dumbledore's the greatest sorcerer, you left Hogwarts because you feared him!" Harry yelled and Tom's eyes narrowed. 

"Hmm..." He drawled, ignoring his question yet again he looked at Draco, who was still in Harry's arms. 

"Every great wizard needs an apprentice. Draco would do great as one, and now that you-" He pointed at Ron who froze, "are here, I don't need to kill him. Your energy would be enough to sustain me. Once he wakes I'll put him under an Imperius, a good little slave." He laughed. 

Rage filled Harry. He began to shake as he got his wand out of his pocket; he pointed the wand at Tom and was about to say--

 _"Rictumsempra!"_ Ron yelled from behind Tom. How he had gotten there, Harry didn't know. And it seemed like Tom didn't know either. He gasped as a slash formed on his back. 

He turned around and yelled, "You brat--" 

Harry brandished his wand and yelled, _"Expelliarmus!"_ Draco's wand flew out of Tom's hand right as he was about to curse Ron. 

"Brats!" Tom yelled. 

Tom turned to a statue of Salazar Slytherin and began to speak, but this time his words were slightly warped and had a hissing edge to them, _"Basilisk! I call you!"_

A loud hiss was heard from the depths of the water that was in front of them. The head of what was most likely the basilisk drifted out of the water. Harry closed his eyes immediately.

He opened his eyes when he heard a screech, looking up, he saw Fawkes flying towards the basilisk with something in its claws. It attacked the basilisk, aiming for its eyes he sunk his claws into its eyes, blinding it. 

Harry could look at it. 

He heard Tom hiss behind him, "Fools." He heard him mutter. 

The basilisk recovered quickly and Fawkes flew over away, dropping something while leaving. Well, Harry didn't know if Fawkes left; he was a bit focused on the snake.

He dodged the basilisk just barely. It seemed to only be going for him and was ignoring Ron entirely. Ron's eyes were closed and he was running the other way. "Ron!" Harry called. 

Ron didn't stop but yelled, "What?!"

"It's not attacking you, only me!" The basilisk leapt towards him once more and Harry fell to the floor, scraping his knee. If he wasn't pumped up on adrenaline, then maybe he would have felt it. 

Harry aimed his wand behind his back and yelled, _"Rictumsempra!"_

He didn't know if he had hurt the basilisk, but he knew that it was still chasing him. He didn't know what to do, he only knew a handful of spells!

Suddenly, something glowed in the distance. It was close, just close enough for Harry to get it. He didn't know what it was, but he had a feeling, and that was the best he could do right now!

"No!" He heard Tom yell, but it was no use. Harry was closer to whatever it was. 

It was a sword. 

It was littered with rubies that shone even in the dim light of the cavern. The blade looked just sharp enough. It was worth a try; it was better than trying to fling an _Expelliarmus_ at the snake. 

He grabbed the sword and spared only a moment to notice the yelling in the background. The basilisk was growing near; the _hissing_ was growing near. He jumped into the water that was next to him and climbed onto the statue of Salazar Slytherin. 

He swung the sword at the basilisk, just grazing the its head. It wasn't strong enough though, it wasn't deep enough. He needed to cut it deeper, he needed to get a direct hit in. He couldn't do that when he was just seconds away from slipping from this statue.

The basilisk sprung forward again and Harry jumped, falling towards the water. The basilisk hit the statue face first, disorienting it for a moment. Harry got onto the floor once again and got ready. 

It was time for the final strike.

The basilisk slithered close once more preparing to leap towards him. Harry closed his eyes and prepared himself.

It leapt forward and Harry thrust the sword forward. 

Pain blinded him in his arm, but he heard the basilisk gurgle and knew that he had hit the basilisk. 

Opening his eyes, he saw the goo on his arm and knew that he had been bit, but looking at the basilisk, he knew that it was dead. Or, at least, close to being dead. The sword was lodged right between its eyes. There was no way it would survive that. 

"NO!" Tom yelled as his basilisk fell to the floor, dead. 

He yelled out in fury. 

Harry looked over to see Ron lying on the floor, blood littered on his face, his wand, that he had just replaced, was on the floor in pieces. Harry's vision was starting to blur, the venom. 

"Harry…" Ron croaked out and Tom focused on him. 

"Why won't you die?!" He yelled in frustration, raising his wand but stopped when he noticed what was in Ron's hands. 

The Diary. 

He reached out to take it from him but Ron threw the book towards Harry. It landed right in front of him. Harry glanced at the basilisk. Something Hermione had said flashed back into his head. _'Basilisk venom is one of the most destructive substances on the planet.'_

Harry didn't waste time. The fang that had bitten him lay on the floor and he picked it up, saving a quick glance up he saw Tom running towards him, worry on his face. 

He thrust the fang right into the diary, black goo spurting out of it. He heard a yell and looked up to see Tom screaming in agony as bright yellow light burst out of him. The light originally burst out of where Harry had hit the diary, but then, it spread. 

And then, Tom was no more. 

But it wasn't over. 

Draco was still unconscious. 

He ran over to Draco even though his legs felt wobbly and were starting to go numb. Ron lay next to him, unconscious but not dead. 

He didn't know if Draco was dead, Tom had never told him. He grabbed Draco by his shoulders and began to shake him, "Draco." He chocked out. 

The flood of relief that overwhelmed him when Draco opened his eyes was like nothing he had ever felt before, even though the pain from the bite was rapidly spreading, it seemed dull in comparison to the happiness he was feeling right now. 

_Draco was alive._

And that was all that mattered. 

Breathing was getting hard. 

Seeing was getting hard.

His eyes felt heavy.

He was so tired.

He knew he was dying. He was going to die. But he had saved Draco, he had saved Ron, he had saved his friends, just like he had said he would. 

He closed his eyes, ready to go to sleep when Fawkes screeched once more. Fawkes swooped down onto Harry's arm and his eyes started to tear up.

"Don't cry." Harry tried to say, but the words wouldn't come out. 

The tears fell onto Harry's wound and they burned for a second, but only for a second. Then, the pain that was flooding his veins started to fade. It was so quick that Harry had to get his bearings. His ears were no longer ringing and he could hear someone yelling. 

"Harry James Potter, you listen to me _right now!_ " Draco yelled. He was still incredibly pale but some of his body warmth was starting to come back. He was so close. 

"Draco!" Harry yelled, starting Draco by wrapping him in a crushing hug. 

"...Harry?" Draco's voice sounded so much smaller now. When Harry let him out of the hug, tears were streaming down Draco's face. Harry faltered. 

"Draco? Are you alright?" Harry asked, worried. 

"Why didn't you use the rooster, you idiot?!" Draco ignored his question and continued to yell at him in a wobbly voice. 

Rooster?--

A crack sounded in the air and Dobby appeared next to them, "Dobby has brought the rooster!" he declared proudly, bolstering a rather angry chicken around. 

...oh yeah.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm thinking of making a new story. How would you guys feel about a Draco meets the Avengers story. Probably dimension travelling. He would become an Avenger. Just tell me what you think about it!


	22. Chapter 22

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry for such the long wait. There's been many things going on in my life, a few of which are; preparing for a new baby, a religious holiday and a lack of motivation. Sorry, again! 
> 
> I also wanted to say that the number of chapters in this story is indefinite as well as all of my stories. I have the whole story plotted out, but I have no idea how many chapters it will take. 
> 
> Love you all, have a good read every one!

Draco couldn't believe it. His father had tried to kill him. Sure, he was friends with Muggleborns and Blood-traitors and he knew that his father was going to be mad. But trying to kill him? His only heir? 

And now, here he was in the hospital wing, Harry sitting by his side even though Dumbledore had called him to his office. Harry had explicitly said that he wasn't going to be leaving Draco any time soon, and Draco had no intention of letting him leave before he had properly berated him about all the absolutely _mental_ things he had done. Really, was it that hard to remember to bring a bloody bird? 

"And you didn't even tell a teacher! What if you had died in there?! They wouldn't even be able to find your corpse, you know why? Because no one else is a _bloody_ parseltongue!" Draco continued to yell from his hospital bed. 

Harry had stopped reacting to his lectures around 10 minutes ago. And that only infuriated Draco more. He just kept looking at Draco with that stupid dopey smile on his face. Draco didn't even know it was possible to smile that wide in these circumstances. Harry's grin stretched from ear to ear and it was getting hard to keep yelling at him. 

In hindsight, he should have predicted this. Gryffindors had no common sense. Look at Weasley: he was on a hospital bed as well, sleeping. He had made the unbelievably stupid decision of fighting a miniature _Voldemort_ as a second-year! 

Idiots, complete and utter idiots. 

But...they were his idiots. 

Draco sighed and reached out to Harry. "Promise me you'll never do that again." 

"Fight a Basilisk?" Harry said, amusement lacing his voice. 

Draco half-heartedly hit his head. "Risk your life." 

Harry's smile faltered a little, dying into a small smile. "I can't do that." 

Draco wanted to say more, but he knew that even if Harry did promise him, he wouldn't be able to keep it. No promise was better than a fake one. Draco gave up and put his head on Harry's shoulder, mumbling 'idiot' repeatedly. 

"Mr. Potter! Mr. Malfoy!" a familiar voice chirped. 

Draco and Harry looked over to see Dumbledore and Flitwick walking over to them. Well, Dumbledore was walking; Flitwick was running over to them, he had to to keep up with Dumbledore. 

"Professor Flitwick," Draco said, his mood suddenly elevated. 

Flitwick hopped onto the side table and began to talk. "I apologize for not believing you, Draco. It was foolish of me. Are you alright?" he said sincerely. 

Draco didn't have to think about it, he forgave him. After all, Flitwick was Draco's favourite professor, and even Draco had thought he was going insane. The random surges of rage, as well as the blackouts, didn't help prove him wrong. 

"Mr. Potter," Dumbledore addressed Harry, the twinkle in his eyes still shining brightly.

"Yes, sir?" Harry asked. 

"I find myself curious. Why exactly are you in possession of a Diary from one of my older students?" Dumbledore asked, his smile faltering a bit as he read the name inscribed on the bottom of the book. 

Harry glanced at said book that was resting on the small table next to the Hospital bed. Draco couldn't bear to look at the book for longer than a minute. All the things he had told Tom, all the secrets he had divulged, and for what? Because he needed someone to talk to. He let his feelings cloud his judgement and that would _never_ happen again. There were lives at stake, he couldn't afford to let his heart get in the way of his brain. 

"I see." Dumbledore's voice broke his thoughts.

"I must commend you on your courage, Mr. Potter. If it wasn't for you and Mr. Weasley, Mr. Malfoy wouldn't be here with us right now," Flitwick said sincerely. 

"It--" Harry was suddenly cut off as the doors swung open. 

"Draco!" A familiar voice shouted. 

Draco froze. He looked up and sure enough, his father was standing in the doorway. An elf was peeking out from behind him. Dobby. 

Draco had to stop himself from running away. He wasn't ready for the conversation with his father right now. And how was he meant to tell his father that he knew that he had actively tried to kill him? Draco knew he had to feign ignorance, but he wasn't too sure Harry would, given how the boy tensed up when he saw the man. 

Lucius stomped over to Draco, Dobby scurrying behind him. 

"I knew sending you here was an awful decision. I don't know _how_ I let Narcissa talk me into it. You will be transferring schools instantly," he began to rant. 

Harry's already tense body jerked at the thought of Draco leaving. 

"Lucius," Dumbledore nodded. 

Lucius ignored him completely, frozen when he saw the book that was lying on Draco's side table. It was a rare crack in his normally calm demeanour: his eyes were slightly wide and his jaw very narrowly hanging open. 

"You," Harry hissed out. 

Lucius snapped out of it and looked at Harry, scowling. 

"That is no way to speak to your elders, child," Lucius berated. 

"It's how I'd speak to someone who tried to kill my best friend." Harry scowled. 

Lucius very slightly flinched but otherwise showed no sign of surprise. 

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Lucius raised his head. 

"You put the book in Draco's cauldron. That day in Flourish and Blotts. He almost died." Harry's voice was deadly. 

"How dare you!--" 

"Now now, I believe we should leave Draco alone. The boy deserves to rest after all he's went through." Dumbledore raised his hands and pointed towards the exit. Flitwick and Dumbledore left while Harry and Lucius stayed behind. 

Harry and Lucius glared at each other for a minute before finally following the Headmaster's orders. Lucius was quick to leave while his elf lingered behind. Harry, who had taken to notice of the elf until he stared directly into Harry's eyes was understandably shocked at seeing him. 

Dobby squeaked and left. Harry made to follow him but was stopped when Draco grabbed his arm. Harry faced Draco, confusion lining his face. 

It took a lot of strength, but Draco grabbed the Diary and gave it to Harry. "An elf can only be free when his master gives him clothes." Draco smiled softly. It took a minute, but Harry's face lit up when he realized what Draco meant. 

"You're a genius," he whispered, the dopey smile back on his face. 

"I know," Draco said haughtily. 

Harry chuckled and left the room. 

Draco settled back onto his bed and grabbed one of the books that were on his side table. After all that had happened this year, he had completely forgotten about his research. There were still many things he had to educate himself on. As well as talk to a certain Centaur. The year was nearly over and he was being closely watched, but there were still ways to get into contact with beings in the Forbidden Forest. 

After all, who better to answer his questions about Seers than a being who had born as one?

********************

"He tried to kill you?!" Draco screamed. 

Harry put a finger to his mouth and rapidly shushed him, looking around to make sure no one heard. Draco couldn't believe it. Did Lucius have a killing kids fetish he didn't have in the original timeline or something? This man was more fucked up than the woman who fucked whatever snake to birth Voldemort. 

Summer was going to be a circus and it would be a miracle if it didn't end with Draco being the youngest person to receive a life sentence in Azkaban. Mother was going to lose a lot of sleep. 

"Look, I know it sounds bad-" 

"Because it _is_ bad!" 

"-But Dobby's free!" Harry smiled shyly, trying to temper Draco's anger. 

Draco's jaw dropped. Was this boy really disregarding the fact that someone tried to kill him mere minutes ago to the fact that he had freed some elf? An elf that had tried to mutilate him with a bludger (Draco still hadn't forgiven the little bastard for that). 

_"So?!"_

Harry winced and looked around, "Wow, none of the glass broke." He muttered under his breath. 

Draco closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "I am putting flobberworm puke in his hair gel," Draco promised. 

"Give me the Weasley twins’ business card," he demanded. 

Harry raised his eyebrows. "Fred and George have a business?" 

"Of course they do. No one cares about Zonko's anymore, they're all using the Weasley products." He could only imagine the look on his father's face when he learned that not only had he been pranked, he had been pranked with a _Weasley_ product. 

Draco sighed. "Can you do anything without putting yourself in danger?" 

Harry pretended to think for a moment. "Nope." He shrugged. "Eating breakfast is always a death sentence, especially those... oranges." He shuddered. 

Draco smiled. "My sass is rubbing off on you." 

"You? This is 100% me." He tried to imitate a hair flip. 

Draco laughed. "Just _try_ to eat the oranges alright?" 

"I give you no guarantee," Harry smiled. 

Draco paused for a moment. "I know you want to protect everyone around you. But...try to protect yourself sometimes too. You can't protect us if you're dead." Draco put his hand on Harry's shoulder. 

"I know. Despite what you and Hermione think, I'm not completely an idiot." Harry laughed but Draco could see something serious in his eyes. 

"The keyword in that sentence is 'completely'." 

Harry shrugged his hand off playfully. "I have to go, I promised Hermione I'd meet up with her at the library." He groaned. 

Draco nodded and made to leave. 

"And Draco?" 

He stopped and looked back at Harry whose face was suddenly serious. 

"No more secrets between us, alright?" Harry tried. 

Draco faltered for a moment, knowing his entire existence was a lie. The guilt was resurfacing, and he knew that he would have to tell them soon. But he would have to make sure it was safe to tell them. They were only children right now. They wouldn't understand, not for a while at least. Potter, Granger and Weasley may be extraordinary kids, but that was what they were. Kids. 

He couldn't put the lives of so many people in a child's hands. Potter already had enough of a burden and Draco couldn't add to it, even more so now that he knew how little self-preservation he had. As well as the situation with the people he was forced to go back to every summer. 

Draco looked Potter directly in his eyes. "Alright." 

*************************


	23. Chapter 23

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so _so_ sorry for how long this took! My new niece (born on May 31st) has just fallen into my care and she got sick. I've been dealing with her. I didn't mean to be absent for so long. Hopefully, I'll be back more often now!

The summer that followed was... horrible. There was no other way to describe it. There was clear tension between father and son, so much so that even the house-elves (who normally tried to keep out of their master’s business) noticed. Draco kept himself cooped up in the family library while Lucius was out doing who knows what, who knows where. And frankly, Draco didn't care what his father was doing. The feelings of rage and stinging betrayal were all that accompanied thoughts of his father nowadays. 

Narcissa, try as she might, could not help them get over it. However, much to Draco's relief, she did _not_ , in fact, know of the diary. It seemed that was another thing Lucius had lied about. 

The only highlight of his summer was when he got owls from Harry, Ron and Hermione. Sometimes, he could even _firecall_ the Weasley's. His father sneered and scoffed every time he saw the familiar ginger hair in the fireplace but didn't comment on it. Sometimes, Draco thought Lucius might feel guilty of what he did. Sometimes, Draco found that he didn't give a fuck. Other times, it was nice to see him actually showing remorse for something.

And so, when the day to go to Diagon Alley finally arrived, everyone in the Malfoy household - even the house-elves - breathed a gigantic sigh of relief. Lucius had given Draco an even larger amount of money than usual. After all, the man had too much pride to simply apologize. 

"Be back before dark," was all Lucius had said before he abandoned Draco in the middle of Diagon Alley with nothing but a pouch of gold and a list of what he needed for the year. 

And there Draco stood, with no idea of what he was supposed to be doing, where he was supposed to go first, or where his friends were.

"Draco Malfoy," someone called, and he was saved of the horrible fate of wandering around Diagon Alley all alone looking for someone he knew. He looked back, expecting to see one of his friends, maybe Ron or Hermione. Probably Harry. He was the one who normally got lost. 

But it wasn't any of them. Instead, it was Professor Trelawney. Damn. He should've known from how airy and eccentric the voice sounded. He always wondered why her voice was like that; it couldn't have been because she was a Seer. Draco was a Seer and he sure as hell didn't talk like that. 

"Professor Trelawney." He inclined his head respectively. 

Trelawney gave him a small smile. "There is much we must talk of, child," she said softly. Then again, everything she said sounded soft. He wondered if she was capable of yelling.

But the question had gotten his attention. "What of, Professor?" He asked, genuinely confused and worried at the same time. Had something happened? 

"Nothing is wrong," she said, reading his thoughts. Wait, could she actually do that?

"I merely have a... request." She hesitated at the last part, as if looking for the right word. 

Draco furrowed his eyebrows. He didn't see how he could say no. He didn't even know what she wanted, but from the look on her face, he didn't think it was anything good. But Trelawney was always harder to read than most people. She always looked far away, like Lovegood. 

"Yes, Professor?" He asked. 

She looked around pointedly. "I think that we should talk about this in private. Unless you want a man with a purple hat finding out your secret in 7 minutes." She said the last part in a daze. 

Draco frowned. "Of course," he said, motioning to one of the shops he knew no one ever went to. It was fairly new anyways. People tended not to visit new shops around here. Not when they could go places they were familiar with.

They both walked over to the small shop that sold mostly books and trinkets. It was clearly a small business that was run by someone with no ambition. His thoughts were only solidified when he saw the man who ran the place. He looked defeated and looked like he couldn't care less what they were doing, only rattling off something that was clearly rehearsed in the most monotone voice possible. 

"I believe that you need to be trained, Draco," Trelawney started as soon as the man went to the back (well not immediately, she had insisted on waiting for 46 seconds.) 

"Trained?" He asked. He had a few ideas as to what she was referring to. But he had no idea why he needed to be trained. 

"Yes, your Eye has been taking quite a beating lately." On instinct, Draco's hand shot up to his literal eye before he realized she was referring to his Inner Eye. 

Draco frowned, silently asking the woman to go on, and go on she did. 

"I only have 7 theories as to what happened last year, but it clearly affected your Eye. It's why you're going to get a headache in half an hour. I believe you should be trained in how to make sure your Eye is less exposed to these...hazardous occurrences. As well as expand on your abilities." She said the last part with a mysterious smile on her face. 

Draco's eyes widened. His Eye had 'taken a beating?' What had happened? Did the Diary affect it in any way?

"You should go, your friends will find you in 5 minutes." She said, starting to walk away. 

But right before she left, she turned back and gave him another smile. "Visit me on Sundays, child. They are the best for your lessons." 

And then, she was gone. 

*******************************

Draco did, in fact, get a headache. And Harry, Ron, and Hermione did find him. 

He was more irritated by the former than the latter. But the trio had noticed his discomfort. It was oddly endearing how they shot him sympathetic looks every time he winced and held his head. Harry especially, was fussing over him.

"Are you alright?" Harry asked, for what had to be the millionth time. 

And just like all the other times, Draco answered, "Yes, just a headache." 

And as always, Harry would frown but nod and would look away but shoot him looks, worry obvious on his face. Hermione and Ron had gotten closer over the summer and were currently talking together but Hermione did ask how he was feeling while Ron would poke at him about using his fireplace to call their house. 

"You firecalled the Weasleys?" Hermione asked. 

Draco nodded and opened his mouth to say something about his father when Ron suddenly broke into a round of uncontrollable laughter. 

"You should have seen the look on Mum's face, 'There's a Malfoy in the fireplace!' and _then_ his Dad came in asking what all the noise was and he saw us in the fireplace and he got this look on his face but he didn't say anything!" Ron said in a rush, giggling in the middle of the story. 

"Well, there was a bit more to it than that," Draco added at the end but Hermione was grinning while Harry was chuckling, frowning a bit at the mention of Lucius. The wound that Tom Riddle had left on all of them was still a bit fresh, but they were healing, and that was good. It was also good that Ron was finally warming up to him. It looked like he had matured a bit over the summer. 

But it wasn't like he would ever _tell_ him that, at least, not to his face. 

"Oh, Harry. Ron and I have something we need to do together, will you both be fine alone?" Hermione said but she didn't wait for an answer before dragging Ron away and leaving them both alone. 

"So..." Harry started and they both looked at each other. 

"They're definitely going to get together." Draco nodded. But it probably wouldn't happen until Sixth Year, and even then, there had been that awful relationship with Lavender Brown. He couldn't stand to see those public displays of affection. He could probably identify Weasley's tonsils by now.

"Yeah." Harry huffed, looking put off for some reason as he kicked a pebble that had been on the ground. 

"You seem off? Do you like Hermione or something?" He asked. There was a prickling feeling at the thought of him and Hermione snogging each other. It had to be disgust. 

Harry's head snapped up and he looked distinctly green. "No! No, of course not!" He yelled, probably louder than necessary. 

And just like that, the prickling feeling was gone.

"Good, because Weasley is a jealous man. Very jealous," he muttered, mostly to himself. He remembered how Weasley had acted around that boy - his name was Cormac McLaggen? Or something - the glares he had given that boy were even more venomous than the ones he had given Draco himself. 

Not to say Hermione couldn't be jealous as well. Case in point, relationship with Lavender Brown. Sixth year had been a mess of feelings for those two, hadn't it? Not to say it hadn't been for Draco as well. 

"Yeah, he definitely is." And then, Harry hesitated. 

"Actually, Draco, I was wondering--" He hesitated again, catching Draco's attention. What could be making him this nervous? "Would you like to go--" 

"Ooh, Potter and his boyfriend?" someone drawled from behind them. Draco didn't have to turn back to know who it was. 

Theodore Nott.

Harry looked furious, more furious than usual. And his face was flushed red. You could even call it Weasley red if you pushed it a bit. 

"Nott." Harry had packed more venom into that single word than he had ever heard before in his life. Even Nott looked slightly put off by it, but he recovered quickly. 

"Potter," he returned, but he sounded less sure than usual. 

"No bodyguards this time?" Harry made a show of looking behind Nott and looking confused. And it was true, there was no Crabbe and Goyle lumbering over the smaller boy anymore. 

Nott scowled and mumbled something under his breath that sounded distinctly like, "Blumbering oafs got lost." 

Yes, that sounded like Crabbe and Goyle. Tell them to take a right and they turn around and go to the South Pole instead. He was a bit proud of Harry for standing up for himself. He did see the irony in it. How he had been in Nott's position more than once. But really, he just didn't want to deal with the boy right now. And from the look in Nott's eyes, he didn't want to either. He was probably just bothering them for reputation's sake. Draco had done the same thing more than once in the previous timeline.

"Come on, Harry. We don't need to be around the likes of him right now." He grabbed Harry's wrist and started to lead him away. 

"Cowards!" Nott yelled after them but didn't make any move to follow. Draco was not in the mood to deal with him. His headache was already getting worse. Of course Trelawney would tell him when it started and not when it ended. 

"So what were you saying?" He asked once they were definitely rid of Nott. 

Harry gave Draco a look. "Nothing," he mumbled. 

************************

"Come on!" Draco yelled at Harry. He was dawdling behind talking to that Weasley girl. There was that same prickling feeling as the one at Diagon Alley. He didn't like it. The Weasley girl was blushing every time Harry said something and was standing far too close for it to be just casual. He wondered what they were talking about. 

Harry startled, looking at Draco. He shot both of them an apologetic smile and said something to the girl before running over to Draco with his luggage. 

"Yeah?" He asked. 

"We're going to be late," Draco said impatiently. 

"Do you want a repeat of last year?" He asked. 

Harry winced, no doubt remembering how he had almost become a pancake because of Weasley's awful driving skills. But it was mostly the house elf's fault. He still held a grudge against Dobby.

"Alright," Harry smiled. 

Draco shot Harry one last glare before going to get onto the train. He didn't have to look behind him to know Harry was following closely. He stopped at times when some hero-worshipping first years came up to him, but other than that stayed behind Draco.

"Ron and Hermione should be a few rows down," he told Harry. They both made their way down to their very back of the train before spotting both of them sitting next to a sleeping man. 

It didn't take long for Draco to recognize the man as Remus Lupin. The werewolf. His prejudice towards werewolves hadn't gone away in the slightest. But that was to be expected when you had Fenrir fucking Greyback in your house for a year. 

He could still hear the screams of House-elves as Greyback ate them alive. How he took pleasure in hurting people. How Bellatrix and he had made a terrifying duo. 

"Who's that?" he asked, trying to keep his voice steady. It wasn't easy and he was pretty sure he failed. 

"Professor RJ Lupin," Hermione answered as they both took their seats across from them. 

"How do you know?" Weasley asked. 

"It's on his trunk, Ron," she said slowly, as if she was speaking to a stupid child. Well, it was Weasley. 

"Oh." Ron flushed but unlike all the other times, this was out of embarrassment. 

Draco yawned; he had had trouble sleeping yesterday. He couldn't help but feel like he was forgetting something. Something important. His memories of the past timeline were a bit harder to access now for some reason. And he hadn't really been privy to the Golden Trio's secrets before, so what he knew was mostly limited to the gossip that went around Hogwarts from time to time and the Daily Prophet. 

He dug into his backpack, looking for one of the books he had bought from Flourish and Botts. It was a new theory about Prophecies from a former Unspeakable, Arianna Smith. 

He hadn't forgotten the prophecy he had told all the way back in their first year. One day, he would go to the Department of Mysteries and figure out what it was about. The memories of that day were still fuzzy. 

He was a good 60 pages into the book when the train abruptly stopped. 

"What? We can't be there already,” Hermione said, looking around. Draco looked up from his book, confused. This had happened last time, he was sure of it. 

And that was when the answer struck him. 

"Dementors," he breathed out, all colour leaving his face. Oh no, fucking--

The door to their cabin was flung open and a cloaked figure swooped into the cabin. Immediately, he felt the effects.

_Screams--Stop it, you're hurting them!_

_No, I don't want to kill him!_

The last thing he saw was Harry crashing to the ground before he followed. 

****************

_'What do I do? I don't want to kill him. But he'll kill my mother. My family. He'll kill me!'_

_'Screaming. Don't let it happen to me. House-elves screaming._ _Greyback, his mouth bloody, a vicious smile on his face as he bit into the face of a house-elf. The way she begged for her life but was unable to run away as Lucius had ordered her to stay.'_

_The way Bellatrix laughed as she held up her wand to torture her next victim. Right in the foyer for all to see. She wanted an audience. The way she looked giddy as she said the torture curse and watched as her victim's back bowed with impossible flexibility._

_'Crucio.'_

*****************

"Draco! Harry!" A voice called out. But it sounded so far away. 

"Wake up, Malfoy! You bloody wanker!" Another called out. And Draco thought the voice might have been male. 

"Oh, that's it, _Aguamenti!_ " 

Cold water was thrown on his face and Draco darted up. He felt horrible. He felt like throwing up but knew he wouldn't be able to even if he wanted to. His head was killing him, and he felt so _cold_.

He was panting. His hair was wet, and Harry was unconscious next to him. It took him a moment to gather his thoughts but once he did, he grabbed his wand and did the same thing Hermione did to him. _"Aguamenti."_

Like Draco, Harry, shot up and started panting. His eyes were unfocused as he tried to ground himself. And then, to Draco's horror, he threw up right in front of him. Almost _on_ him. 

Draco made a noise of disgust before quickly vanishing the horrid smelling puke on the floor and backing away. He hit something, or, someone. 

He whipped around, wand already pointed, and came face to face with Remus Lupin. That didn't do anything to calm him because all he could think was _'werewolf werewolf Greyback screaming--'_

Lupin reached into his coat and handed Draco something wrapped in foil. 

"Chocolate. Eat the whole thing." Lupin smiled but there was a hardness to his eyes, and he stood ramrod straight. He moved to give everyone else some chocolate as well, but Harry and Draco got the biggest portions.

Draco sat down and pushed himself up against Harry, wanting the cold feeling to go away. And Harry pushed back, probably wanting to feel the same. They both dug into their chocolate, Hermione and Ron slower than them.

The effect of the chocolate was instant. The cold inside him dimmed a bit and was replaced by a warm and happy feeling. The sweet was a welcome taste, he had always loved chocolate as a child. Sometimes, he even helped the house-elves make it (much to his father's horror.) He breathed a sigh of relief, the tension falling out of his body. It was then that he suddenly became aware of the wetness on his cheeks. Had he been crying?

"You both fainted," Ron started. 

"There was screaming," Harry said dazedly. Draco nodded. He had heard it too. 

"No one was screaming, mate," Ron said, confused. Hermione was just watching them, her eyes narrowed, and Draco was suddenly reminded of McGonagall.

"House-elves," Draco muttered absentmindedly. His mind was still somewhere else. 

Hermione made a sound. She shared a look with Ron but didn't say anything. 

"What happened?" Harry asked, no doubt trying to change the topic. 

"Lupin cast the Patronus Charm," Hermione said. 

"Patronus?" Harry asked. 

Hermione launched into an explanation of the charm and how it affected Dementors. And that was when Draco tuned out.

*****************

"I don't know what to do, Hermione!" Harry whisper yelled at Hermione in the carriage, making sure Draco couldn't hear them. He was one carriage away, but still. 

"Hmm," Hermione hummed thoughtfully and tilted her head. Oh, that was her _thinking_ face. 

"Have you thought of courting him?" Hermione whispered. 

What?

"Courting?" Harry asked, and he knew that he sounded terribly lost. 

"Yes, the courting process normally takes about a year or so. It's traditional, and you know how traditional Draco is," she reasoned. 

A year? Would he really be willing to wait that long? Well, he had been waiting since first year. But his feelings had only grown with him. It seemed every year Draco could come back looking even better than he did the last year and Harry would make some bumbling attempt at flirting and Draco would have no idea what he was talking about. And then the cycle would repeat. Every. Year. 

But now? He had a manual. For flirting! He had to admit, Purebloods really did think of everything--

"There's just one problem." Hermione interrupted, looking slightly put off. Harry's stomach did a little flop. 

"You have to get permission from his parents," Hermione said, rubbing the back of her neck. 

Harry was sure his jaw was on the floor. 

"His parents? I have to ask _Lucius Malfoy_ if he'll let me _date_ his son?!" Harry was trying his best to be quiet, but it was getting just a tad bit harder. 

"Well, you could just ask his mother. You know most courtships end in marriage. You're basically getting their blessing." 

Harry's train of thought - or lack thereof - crashed and burned at the simple prospect of marrying Draco. Draco Malfoy, his husband. Making goddamn vows? Buying a little house? He wasn't a hopeless romantic by any means - no matter what Ron said - but all that sounded really, _really_ nice.

Now, all he needed to do was ask Narcissa Malfoy. He hadn't met her specifically, but Draco liked to talk about her. But he had a feeling he might be just a tad bit biased as to what his mother was really like. 

"What if she says no?" He asked. 

Hermione thought for a moment. "You could still court him. But once the year is up you would have to ask _Draco_ to ask his parents. And then if they say no you could just elope together or something." 

Harry flushed. "Can we not talk about marriage right now?" He mumbled. 

Hermione chuckled. "You have to be extremely serious to enter a courtship, Harry." 

"I am." Harry nodded seriously, a fire in his eyes. Hermione and Ron often told him - and on some occasions Draco, but it was almost always said as an insult - that he was extremely determined. 

"I think Draco's part Veela," Hermione said unexpectedly. 

Harry was, once again, shocked. And no small amount of confused. "Veela?" 

"Yeah, you've seen how fast his hair grows. That's not normal and we've never seen him take a hair growth potion. And if you look at him from the right angle, he seems to glow. Definitely not fully Veela though, he doesn't show all the traits. But the Malfoy's are known for how many magical gifts they've had in their bloodline. Like Veelas and Seers. Seers are more of a Black family trait though, so I don't think Draco is one," Hermione started. 

"You can be part Veela?" He asked. He knew about Veela but he didn't know that much. They just hadn't seemed that important. And unlike Hermione, he didn't research magical creatures for fun. Sure, he was interested in them but not overly so. Just another creature to file away into the 'That exists?' department of his brain.

"It's a hereditary thing so say if one of the parents is a Veela and the other is a Human, and they have a child, that child would be half-Veela," Hermione responded.

"So is his mother?--" Harry started but was cut off. 

"No. He has to be less than half. It would be much more prominent if he was." She answered sagely.

Harry looked over at Draco who was currently riding with Ron and reading one of his books. He was seeing the boy in an entirely new light now. If you really looked at his hair, you would see how shiny it was, how it perfectly framed his face. How it seemed to fall into place without any insistence. How he seemed to glow in the sunlight. 

"But aren't people all over Veela normally?" When Harry was staying at the Weasley's Charlie had mentioned something about Veela and how everyone seemed to love them. A lot of Quidditch teams liked to use them for their introductions and half time shows. 

"Well, he probably hasn't presented yet. It's like puberty, Harry," she said matter-of-factly. Harry blushed, still feeling a bit awkward discussing those topics. But it didn't even amount to that time Hermione had started going off about sex charms.

"Hmm.” Harry was still looking at Draco, like he could solve all the boy's mysteries by just staring at him. 

"Oh, we're here!" Hermine cheered. 

***********************

It was Monday. Hogwarts always started on a Monday. That meant there was just barely less than a week before he could meet Trelawney for their 'training.' He had made sure to take Divination. It was a win-win really; his friends were taking the class too and this way, he could use his 'Seer powers' to get good grades.

"Wow, Hermione, how're you gonna do that?" Ron said from across him. Draco had moved from the Ravenclaw table to Gryffindor to sit with them when the feast started. 

He leaned over to see what they were talking about. He saw Granger's timetable and his eyes widened. It was insane! No one could do that. Sure, he could think of a few ways to do it but all of them, he felt, would be putting to much work into classes. Hermione was already a top student, only under Draco. She didn't need to overwork herself just because she wanted to learn more. She could just ask for a few extra lessons onf the weekends or maybe some extra work over the holidays!/p>

"How are you going to take two classes at once?" He asked. He had already thought of a way. Splitting the class time in half and then taking the rest of the class out of someone else's memory and studying it in a Pensive. Or maybe just splitting class time in half and getting extra work depicting what had been done in said class.

Hermione gave them a nervous look and touched her new necklace for some reason. It didn't take a genius to see she was hiding something. 

"I'll figure something out," she said vaguely, purposefully not making eye contact. 

Draco gave her a look but backed off. Ron, however, did not.

"But it's impossible!" Ron started. Draco sighed, they were going to get into an argument. He rolled his eyes and turned his attention to Harry who was looking off into the distance. The Dementor attack had left them shaken. 

Dumbledore had made a speech about the Dementors and the twinkle in his eyes had been completely gone. It was the first time he had ever seen the Headmaster look mad. The man always looked composed and all-knowing. At the mention of Sirius Black, all eyes had turned to Harry, who looked confused. 

He had forgotten about that man too. He didn't know much about Sirius Black, only that he was a relative of sorts and wasn't guilty. His father had said multiple times that Sirius Black was definitely not a death eater. 

Draco had done a little bit of digging. He was a curious child after all; and had looked into a few Ministry files. He had seen that the man hadn't even been given a trial. There was no way to determine if he was guilty or not, but he was sure that the trial, or lack thereof, was unfair. Sirius Black had either confessed and felt so guilty that he had requested not to have a trial, or he had been wrongfully imprisoned.

Draco was leaning towards the latter. 

Something told him that this year was going to be much more interesting.


	24. Chapter 24

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry for the slow updates. I'm going to be rereading the series.

"What are Dementors?" Harry asked when they were finally in the common room. Draco had asked Professor McGonagall if he could go to the Gryffindor common room instead of his own just this once. She must have felt bad about the Dementors because she agreed, although with a few strict assurances that if they did anything wrong, they would have detention for a month.

"You're asking that now?" Draco asked incredulously. 

Harry shrugged. "I didn't want to ask in front of everyone else," he mumbled under his breath, eyes getting a distant look in them. 

Draco felt a pang of sympathy run through him. 

"Besides, didn't you see the faces Nott was making? He pretended to faint and everyone at the Slytherin table found it hilarious!" Harry yelled, face getting red. Either from humiliation or anger, Draco couldn't tell. 

"It's alright." Draco sat down beside him. Harry threw one of his pillows at the wall, not looking at him. 

"A Dementor is a creature that sucks all the happiness out of you," Draco started. That got Harry's attention because he stopped taking apart his poor bed and looked at Draco. The red slowly fading away from his face as his eyes got a new glint in them. One Draco recognized all too well: curiosity. 

"They're attracted to negative emotions. They don't go after animals, only humans. They feed off the despair that comes off of you. Normally they're kept in Azkaban, but there are stories of the ones that roam free. The Ministry wasn't able to catch all of them, you know?" 

"Catch them?" Harry asked. 

"Yes, they were found on what would become Azkaban island. On the island was a fortress where an insane man lived. The creator of the Dementors. The only human that the Dementors never tried to kill. He died, but no one knows how." Draco said. Harry was slowly inching closer to him, like a child that was being told an interesting bedtime story. 

"Normally, a Dementor would suck out the soul of any human being it came across. But his soul was so tainted that not even the Dementors wanted to take it." Harry's already pale face drained of what remaining color it had left as he gave Draco a look. 

"Take your soul?" He asked in a small voice. It sounded so vulnerable that Draco was brought out of his reverie as he stared at Harry in concern. Had the Dementors affected Harry this much in the last timeline?

"That's what they feed on. Human souls," Draco answered. He knew how awful it sounded to anyone who hadn’t grown up hearing the stories. The Muggleborns always paled whenever they talked about them. 

"If the Professor hadn't been there..." Harry looked away, letting himself trail off. The thought of Harry dying made Draco's blood freeze. Harry couldn't die, he just couldn't. And Draco wouldn't let anyone take Harry from him. Not after all he had gone through just to be there! 

"You would have been fine. You had us with you. Weasley would have scared them off with his atrocious fashion sense," Draco said in a tone of absolute conviction. A trait he had picked up from his mother. A tone that left no room for argument. 

Harry gave Draco an appreciative smile. It was small but it was the effort that counted. 

"Now, enough of the Dementor talk. I'm going to get you some nice chocolate cake and you can tell me what you did over the summer, hmm?" Draco started to get off the bed when he noticed Harry wince out of the corner of his eye. Draco turned back to him with a raised eyebrow. 

"Something you want to tell me?" He asked when he noticed the shifty eyes and obvious layer of sweat on the boy in front of him. It was a look he recognized, a look he had seen on Father when faced with an angry Mother. A look he had seen an immeasurable amount of times this summer. 

"I may have... blownupmyaunt," Harry rushed out. 

The eyebrow inched higher. 

Harry let out a squeak, one absolutely undignified of the Saviour of the Wizarding world. 

"I may have... accidentally blown up my aunt." His voice got smaller and smaller with each word as he reached up to rub the back of his neck. His eyes darted around the room, sometimes darting up to Draco's face before quickly looking at the floor beside his bed. 

Draco opened his mouth to say something before closing it and taking a deep breath. It wouldn't do good to lecture Harry without a cup of tea first. He would need it to hear what he knew would be an absolutely ridiculous story. 

"Tea and biscuits first."

"What happened to chocolate?"

"You lost that privilege." 

************************************

"YOU RAN AWAY?!" Draco screamed. Harry winced, rubbing the back of his neck as he looked down.

"Well, if I stayed..." Harry trailed off, seeing the look on Draco's face. 

"Of all the stupid things you've done, Potter, this takes the cake. You ran away from home when you know how dangerous it is. And at night, no less! Do you know how embarrassing it would be to find that the-boy-who-lived died in a stupid muggle car accident!?" 

"I could've used magic if anything happened--"

"And you got a warning for accidental magic! You want to use more?! Are you insane? No! Don't answer that, I already know the answer." Draco slapped a hand on his forehead. 

"I've seen all the stupid things you've done since first year. Why should this be any different?" Draco mumbled to himself. He gave Harry a once-over and shoved a stern finger towards him.

"If you _ever_ feel the need to run away from home again, you're coming to my house immediately," he said. Harry's eyes widened. Whatever he had been expecting, it hadn't been that. 

"What?" 

"I know how shit your relatives are. If you need to run away again, you're coming to my house. I'll give you a portkey at the end of the year." They were normally regulated by the Ministry but he could pull some strings. 

Harry's mouth opened and then closed before opening again, "Portkey?" 

Draco groaned. "How ignorant are you?" 

Harry shrugged, shooting Draco a sheepish look. Draco couldn't fault him for his lack of magical knowledge, he hadn't even known he was a wizard until he was eleven for Merlin's sake! He would really have to educate him if he wanted to stand a chance in his upcoming years without pulling all his plans out of his arse. 

"A Portkey is an object that can take you to a specified location. They're either activated by touch or vocal commands. If you wish to go back to where you came from, you just touch or say the command again," Draco elaborated. 

"That's cool!" Harry said gleefully, inching forward.

"Yes, it is." 

Suddenly, they both realized how close they were. Or, at least, Draco did. He didn't think Harry knew, it was either that or he didn't mind. For some reason, Draco's mind thought it was the latter. Harry opened his mouth to say something, his expression softening. 

"Thank you, I really needed that." 

And he really did. Harry's face looked much better than it did when they had come in. Instead of the sickly white he had been sporting ever since the train, his tan hue was coming back to his face. His eyes no longer looked dull, returning to the same spark they always did. And his mouth that had looked to be stuck in a permanent frown was smiling softly at Draco. 

"You're sweaty," Draco said dully. Stupid! It was the first thing that had come to mind. His mind had shut down and, of course, the first thing that had come out once he had successfully done a reboot was a 'You're sweaty.'

But he really was...

"You should take a shower." Draco nodded to himself. 

"I mean really, you look like you just came out of a Quidditch match." The mention of Quidditch made Harry perk up. But it was for a different reason than Draco thought. 

"Speaking of Quidditch, are you trying out?" 

Draco's eyes widened. "What?" 

"Are you trying out? For the Ravenclaw team."

"You... want me to?" It came out as a question, only because Draco was so confused. 

"Yeah, of course!" Harry smiled. 

"Well, I... haven't thought about it."

And Draco really hadn't. Perhaps every now and then, in between research and planning out further years. But with the whole diary incident last year, Quidditch had been the last thing on his mind. 

But... the thought of being able to fly again. The exhilaration that always came with a good Quidditch match, and this time, his father wouldn't even be the reason he was doing it. It would be his own. Maybe allowing himself this little break wouldn't be so bad. Harry was asking him, after all, and how was he meant to say no when those eyes looked at him so hopefully?

"I'll do it." Draco nodded, both to himself and to Harry. 

Harry shot him a beaming smile and Draco's heart did a little stutter (he would have to look into that later). He opened his mouth to say something but was cut off when the door suddenly slammed open and someone came in hollering. 

"Harry!" A familiar voice yelled. Harry pulled away so fast that he bumped his head into the headboard. Draco looked over at said voice and saw Seamus Finnigan coming in with a paper. 

"Finnigan?" Draco asked, annoyed. 

"Oh, Malfoy?" Finnigan questioned before looking between the two of them and Harry's panicked expression. His expression changed into one of mockery as he shot Harry a look Draco couldn't decipher. 

"What do you want?" Draco questioned, eyeing the paper in the boy's hands. 

"Good thing you're here. McGonagall told me you have to head over to your common room now." Finnigan said, completely ignoring what Draco had asked. 

Draco rolled his eyes before giving Harry an apologetic look. "Make sure you eat some chocolate before bed," he commanded. 

Just as he left the room, he heard Finnigan snickering and whistling as Harry tried to hide his head in his hands. The tips of his ears were red and his mouth was twisted in a cringe. Draco chuckled at the sight and cast a quick _Tempus_. 

"IT'S 10 PM?!" 

***************************************

"Where is the bloody classroom?" Harry asked for the thousandth time. Draco was right next to him, smiling and giggling ever so slightly whenever they took a wrong turn. Sure, _he_ knew where the Divination classroom was, but they didn't know that. After all, it would look odd if he knew where the classroom of a subject that the rest didn't even know existed was. Well, they had never heard of the subject until about a day ago, when they first got their schedules. 

And it was slightly entertaining watching them fumble around, asking people in the hallway if they knew where the classroom was. They had passed it on several occasions. Draco wouldn't let them be late of course, but he was definitely calling it close. 

Finally, they got some help from a portrait. Sir Cummemberg or something? Overall, he was rather overdramatic.

Draco sighed. Oh well, the fun was good while it lasted. They cracked open the door to find the room decorated in purple and a few shades of red. It was a familiar sight. One that brought a smile to Draco's face. The rest just looked on in slight surprise; none of the other teachers dared to decorate their classrooms like this. Trelawney, however, had never been like other teachers. 

The chairs weren’t the normal wood but instead fluffy and comfy chairs with the occasional beanbag thrown in for decoration. Books were littered on randoms shelves. The desks were placed in odd places while the desks themselves were different shapes. Some circles while others were squares. And if you looked up you could see the purple drapes that decorated the ceiling.

Draco took a seat next to Harry while Ron sat right behind them. The classroom slowly filled with other students, some who looked disheveled, probably because they were in such a hurry to get to class. All in all, most of the students were late. And the teacher still hadn't shown up. Trelawney knew they would be late, of course. She had likely given herself a few extra minutes of sleep. 

Draco glanced around him, it was nice to be with all of his friends again. Being in Ravenclaw hadn’t made it easy to hang out with them.

This was one of the few classes Draco had with Harry, Ron, and Hermione. Draco sometimes had DADA with them but those classes had been horrible lately. DADA had always been a horrible class. The only exception would be this year. As much as he hated to admit it, the man was a competent teacher. They had actually learned things in his class, and they had been _fun_ , unlike Moody's classes. He was excited to go through them again. 

"Welcome to Divination," said Professor Trelawney, swooping into the room. Her bead necklaces moved just a bit as she opened her arms. The class gave her a look, a few mocking while others (mostly Muggleborns) looked at her in awe. 

"My name is Professor Trelawney." She clasped her hands together. 

"You may not have seen me before. I find that descending into the hustle and bustle of the school clouds my Inner Eye." She gave Draco a pointed look at that. Draco raised an eyebrow in response. Perhaps she was telling him to do the same. 

"So you have chosen to study Divination." She gave Hermione a look, one much different from the one she had given Draco. Her eyes hardened just a tad and her smile faltered the slightest bit. The words that Trelawney had said in the last timeline suddenly came back to him, as well as how much Granger had complained during this class. 

"The most difficult of all magical arts." Hermione scoffed at that. Trelawney - who had obviously expected that - said nothing in response, even though she obviously heard it. Hermione's face flushed; it was clear she hadn't meant to say anything out loud. 

"If you do not have the sight, there is very little I will be able to teach you." Draco smiled a bit, remembering how easy and naturally the class had come to him. Back then, he had bragged about how smart he was. But now, he knew it had little to do with studying than natural skill. 

"Books can take you only so far in this field," Trelawney said, practically reading his mind. Out of the corner of his eye, Draco saw Harry and Ron give Hermione cheeky grins. Hermione wore a shocked look on her face. Draco barely refrained from laughing, he could practically hear her gasping in her mind. 

"Many witches and wizards, talented though they are in the area of loud bangs and smells and sudden disappearing, are yet unable to penetrate the veiled mysteries of the future." Professor Trelawney kept on going as her eyes leapt from face to face. Finally landing on Draco, she gave him a smile. 

"You, boy!" she said suddenly, hand pointing towards Neville, who cowered beneath her gaze. Just then, a flash of Neville dropping a teacup appeared in his vision, hazy and far away. As though blocked by a cloud of invisible mist. 

He thought he heard Professor Trelawney say something to Neville about his grandmother but they seemed far off, their voices muffled in a way. That was when Draco realized he had yet to come back from his post vision haze. It was something he always went through; the bigger the vision, the longer it took to regain his senses. He took a deep breath and calmed his mind. Occlumency was extremely helpful with things like this. 

When he had finally come back, a few minutes had passed. Harry gave him a weird look while Trelawney gave him a knowing one. She was holding a teacup. She handed him it while her voice rang out in the class. 

"You shouldn't get lost in your Inner Eye for so long, child." Everyone heard, gasps ringing through the crowd. Hermione gave him a look and Draco found himself inching away from her; she looked at him not unlike she looked at a new book. 

"What are we doing?" he whispered, asking Harry. 

"Reading tea leaves," Harry answered.

Draco glanced down at the cup, instantly recognizing his leaves as an Acorn and a Club. When put together, they told of an unexpected attack in the near future. The problem was that the 'near future' was always a bit obscure in Divination. That was the problem with the whole subject; it was obscure in almost every aspect. The 'near future' could be tomorrow or a year later. Technically, it was always the near future for someone; they all had their points in time and Tessomancy almost always told of a fixed point in time. But you could never know what was a fixed point in time.

"You're really glaring at that teacup, mate," Ron chirped from behind him. 

"Of course he is! This is ridiculous, how are we supposed to _read_ tea leaves?!" Hermione hissed.

"It's just really obscure," Draco murmured absentmindedly. 

"Does that mean you can read it? Can you read mine?" Harry asked from next to him. 

Draco glanced at his teacup and did a double take, blood draining from his face. He knew this would happen, of course it would, it had happened last time after all. But... that didn't change the feeling of ice that pooled in his stomach from seeing Harry's cup. 

It was a Grim. An omen of death. Something all Pureblood children and Half Bloods had been taught to fear all their lives. The ultimate omen of death. 

That was when Neville dropped his teacup. 9 minutes had passed. Trelawney didn't look surprised. Instead, she walked towards him and waved her wand. 

"You should select one of the blue patterned ones now," she said in her normal airy voice.

Trelawney walked away from the now clean floor and walked over to Draco and Harry, checking teacups along the way. Draco prepared himself for what he knew was going to happen. Sure enough, as soon as Trelawney took a look into Harry's cup, she gasped, her hand coming up to her mouth as her eyes filled to the brim with tears. Abruptly, the class stopped what they were doing, looking at the both of them in interest. Suddenly, Draco realized why Harry didn't like all the attention.

"My dear boy, my poor dear boy," she started. Everyone seemingly leaned forward in their chairs, the interaction getting more interesting by the minute. 

"What is it, Professor?" Dean Thomas asked, his eyebrows furrowed in concern. 

But before Trelawney could answer, Draco spoke up. "You have the Grim," Draco faced Harry.

Gasps rang through the crowd, Trelawney whimpering at the simple mention of the omen. 

"Yes," she agreed in a small voice, but in the silence of the room, it rang out clearly. 

"The what?" said Harry, looking between Draco and Trelawney with an expression that was both confused and worried. 

"An omen of death, Harry. The worst omen of death." Draco's voice got smaller as images of Harry in various encounters flashed through his mind. What if he had done something that would make this year go different? It had already happened last year. 

The simpler thought made Draco light-headed. Distantly, he saw Hermione get up with an angry look on her face. 

"I don't think it looks like a Grim," she started. 

Professor Trelawney, who had disliked Hermione the moment she had entered the door, gave her a look that was filled with equal parts pity and dislike. 

"You'll forgive me for saying so, my dear," Trelawney started and Draco cringed, knowing what was about to happen and how Hermione would react to it. 

"But I perceive very little aura around you. Very little receptivity to the resonances to the future." Hermione was gaping open-mouthed at her now. Both angry and humiliated. 

And for the first time in history. Hermione Granger walked out of a class before she was dismissed. 

**************************************

The mood in the Transfiguration classroom was somber. Everyone who had come from Divination seemed to have a permanent frown on their face. Hermione was scowling while Ron kept on shooting Harry piteous glances. Harry was the worst of all, however. His mood had soured and every attempt at magic seemed to be going wrong for him. Draco tried his best to help his friend but even he could only do so much when a Wizard's emotions were running so high. 

"Really! What has gotten into you all today?" Professor McGonagall, to no one's surprise, had noticed. 

"Not that it matters, but that's the first time my transformation's not got applause from a class," she humphed. It very clearly mattered. 

That was when everyone pointedly looked at Harry, expressions mixed in the room. Professor McGonagall, seemingly catching on, scoffed again. 

"You have just come from Divination, yes?" she asked a good handful of the class. The answering murmurs were all mixtures of, _'Yes, Professor'_. 

A self-satisfied air surrounded McGonagall, like it normally did with Hermione when she had gotten an answer right or when she had gotten them house points. 

"Tell me, which of you will be dying this year?" she asked, pinching the bridge of her nose. 

Everyone, sans Draco, stared at her. He had forgotten she had said that in the last timeline. That raised Draco's hopes a little. Maybe the timeline hadn't been changed too much. Maybe this was another fixed point. And if this one was, then that meant there would be more coming up. He would have to draw a chart comparing them. Anything familiar could be a fixed point, no matter how small it was. Someone falling down the stairs could win a war after all. That was how the universe worked. 

"Me," said Harry, with an air around him that screamed, _'Not again!'_ and Draco found himself feeling sympathy for him. Normally, he would be laughing at his misery, normally it _was_ laughable! But not this time.

"I see," Professor McGonagall sighed. 

"Then you should know, Potter, that Sybill Trelawney has predicted the death of one student a year since she arrived at this school. None of them have died yet. Seeing Death Omens is her favorite way of greeting a new class. If it were not for the fact that I never speak ill of my colleagues..." she trailed off. Despite the death prediction, Draco still didn't like the slander against the Professor. Sure, she might act a little batty sometimes, but it wasn't her fault. 

"Divination is one of the most imprecise branches of magic. I shall not conceal from you that I have very little patience with it. True Seers are very rare. And Professor Trelawney..." she trailed off once more and Draco felt another swell of indignation. It was true that Divination had never been a branch of magic that had gathered much favor. But it was only because so many people were offended when they realized they would never be able to learn a specific branch of magic that they'd rather make fun of anyone who could! 

"Divination isn't a subject that you can learn from books, Professor. While Seers are extremely rare, it's more common for people to be in touch with their Inner Eye." Draco spoke up in the calmest voice he could manage. McGonagall's eyes widened just a fraction and she looked over to him. 

"Right you are, Malfoy," she said in a curious tone. 

She turned her attention to Harry once more, "You look in perfect health to me. Excuse me if I don't let you off homework today. I assure you that if you die, you need not hand it in." 

Hermione chuckled behind them. Harry relaxed just a tad and Ron sighed in relief. Draco, however, still had his doubts. He didn't remember much of the Golden Trio's adventures in third year. The whole year overall had been mysterious. That year had left Draco with questions, mainly because of how elated Potter had looked by the end of it. But that did give Draco hope for this year; something had happened in the last timeline that had brought joy into Potter's life. And Merlin knows this Harry needed something to pick him up. 

Especially considering the events of fourth year...

Draco quickly lost that train of thought. He wouldn't think about that disastrous year until the mysteries surrounding this one were gone. 

The class didn't last for long after that and they all were excused to go to the Great Hall. 

*******************************

"Really, that subject is absolutely blasphemous." Hermione waved a fork in the air, no doubt ready to go on a rant on the subject. 

"Just because you can't understand it by spending days in the library doesn't mean it's ridiculous," Draco snapped, the tension from the day coming out. 

Hermione, however, wasn't backing down, "It is! How are we supposed to get good grades in the subject if we can't study?" 

Draco wasn't backing down either. "Meditate!" he yelled, "Open your Inner Eye. Ask Professor Trelawney! You're treating her like a _loon_!" He slammed his hands on the table and Hermione finally realized how angry he truly was. 

The Professor had been nothing but kind to him. She had been someone he could actually talk to, about everything! She had listened and offered insight, had even offered to tutor him! He wasn't just going to stand by and laugh as people defamed her subject. Just because they were either frustrated or too full of themselves and decided taking it out on her was the right way to go about it!

"Are you alright there, mate?" Ron questioned through his mouth full of food. 

"Yeah, you seem to really like the Professor," Harry chimed in before eating a spoon of potatoes. 

"She's just...nice once you get to know her." The anger started draining out of him, quickly being replaced with exhaustion. The whole day had tired him out and that little vision hadn't done much to dispel it. It was odd, his head hadn't been pounding like it normally did when he had a headache. It was more like an itch he couldn't scratch because it was in his _brain_. 

"And you know her?" Hermione asked in a voice that clearly said she didn't believe him. 

He shrugged. "You should try it." But Draco knew how unlikely that would be, it was clear that Trelawney wasn't exactly fond of Hermione and the feeling was clearly mutual. 

Hermione rolled her eyes and went back to her food, pointedly not looking at him. Draco resisted the urge to do the same to her. Instead opting to pull out a book from his bag. The Malfoy family library had quite a bit on Seers and Time Travel. Merlin knows no one in the family actually read them, though. They were merely there for display, just as much of the house was. 

Draco had taken to correcting things he had found wrong in the books and highlighting those which he found especially interesting. He had found the book that had allowed him to travel back in time in the Malfoy library, after all. So there had to be something else in there. 

Something that wasn't propaganda bout how better Purebloods were. Really, there was a whole section dedicated to Blood Purity! It was becoming increasingly tiresome to find some of those books in places where the obviously didn't belong. It seemed the house-elves had been slacking. Not that he could blame them. No one really wanted to step foot in the musty old library.

And there was the whole Veela thing. He had to talk to Professor Snape about potions. He couldn't brew them in his house without suspicion and he couldn't brew them in the potions lab for the same reason. He already knew Snape was giving Lupin Wolfsbane. When his Veela side fully matured on his fourteenth birthday, he would need a few sets of potions. Just a few to keep the Sleazes away.

But that also meant telling Severus about his Veela heritage. His father had always been... less than amicable when it came to Veela. He had said a few choice words that had led to him wisely hiding his heritage from him. Unfortunately, Veela had been something his mother had agreed on with his father. So the only person he had left to go to was his godfather. 

And to his surprise, the man had been completely understanding. In the last timeline, he had provided Draco with the potions he had needed with absolutely no fuss, even demanding that Draco come straight to him instead of 'a discount potions shop that has absolutely no idea what they're doing'. 

The whole situation had strengthened their bond overall. 

"Harry," Ron spoke up, startling Draco from his work. Ron's voice sounded so uncharacteristically serious. 

"You haven't seen a great big black dog anywhere, have you?" he asked. 

Draco found himself leaning closer to them. 

"Yeah, I have." The words made Draco's stomach drop. Had that happened in the last timeline? 

"I saw one the night I left the Dursley's." 

Ron's fork fell. Draco's book did the exact same. They both gave each other a look, for once agreeing on something: concern for their friend. 

"Probably a stray," Hermione said, not paying attention. 

"Could you at least try to take this seriously?" Draco hissed. 

"One of us has to be calm. Harry'll freak out as well if I start," Hermione whispered back, making sure Harry wasn't able to hear. Draco admitted she was probably doing the right thing and Draco should do the same thing. But he just couldn't fight the sense of foreboding that had seemed to make itself home inside him. 

Ron looked in between both of them as though they had gone mad, "You're on my side right, mate?" he asked Draco. 

"I don't know. Why would a Grim be in a muggle neighborhood?" he said, trying his best to make himself believe it as well. Hermione shot him an appraising look, their previous argument forgotten. 

Harry sighed. "It seems I'm about to die every year, doesn't it?" He took a bite out of his chicken. 

Draco winced, knowing how right Harry was, for both the past and the future. 

"Not like we'd let anything get close to you," Draco said matter-of-factly. The Golden Trio had been alive and kicking in the last timeline; why shouldn't they be able to make it through this one? Besides, they had him as well. Nothing bad came out of having an extra the second go around. 

"Exactly." Hermione nodded, not looking up from her Arithmancy textbook. 

Ron reluctantly nodded. 

"Well, that's settled then," Draco said, getting up. 

"Where are you going?" Harry asked. 

"I have to go ask Professor Snape something." He gestured to the head table where Snape's chair was clearly empty. Draco knew Severus would be in his lab brewing the Wolfsbane potion for tomorrow. 

"Wonder where the git's gone to now," Ron mumbled under his breath. But Draco heard it clearly. He shot him an irritated glance, one that was returned fully. It seemed Snape would never be something they would agree upon. 

"Alright," Harry said. "Don't take too long." 

Draco left the hall with a quick wave goodbye. 

********************************

"Draco." Severus greeted him with a slightly raised eyebrow. 

"Professor Snape," Draco nodded back. 

"We're not in public, you may drop the pleasantries," he dismissed with a flick of his free hand. The other carefully stirred the potion three times. 

"I have a favor to ask, Severus." Draco cut to the point. Severus hated it when people wasted his time. 

"Hmm?" Severus hummed. 

"I need... Veela suppressant potions," he mumbled just loud enough. Whatever Severus had been expecting, it obviously hadn't been that, given how he very uncharacteristically fumbled with the Aconite. Once he had gotten his grip on the vial, he gave Draco a wide-eyed stare before his eyes narrowed, looking at Draco's face. Checking to see if Draco was lying. 

"Pray tell, why do you need Veela suppressant potions?" He slowly added the Aconite to the mixture, his movements clearly second nature. He wasn't even looking at the cauldron, instead looking at Draco. 

"I'm a Veela," Draco sighed, not looking him in the eye. Even though he had done this once before, it still wasn't any less nerve-wracking. There was always the smallest possibility that Severus really didn't like Veela in this timeline. 

Severus gave Draco a once over. Pausing for an agonizingly long time. 

"I should have seen it before," he said under his breath.

Draco's eyes widened and he gave Severus a questioning look. 

"Your hair grew at an abnormally fast rate. You have the shine that all Veela normally do, but it's dulled enough so that you can't see it unless you look closely. You're obviously not a full Veela. I'm assuming less than half as well. The magic is focused on your hair and face," he said in his usual drawl.

Draco opened his mouth and then closed it. Severus caught the movement. 

"I'll brew you the potions. I'm assuming you're going to be fully mature by next year?" 

Draco nodded. "How did you know?" he asked. 

"Ingredients for the potion aren't exactly common. It will take a few months for them to arrive." 

That took him by surprise. Severus had gotten the ingredients for the potion immediately in the last timeline. Maybe he already knew? Severus always was perceptive. 

It seemed the moment had ended. Draco made to leave but stopped when he heard Severus speak again. 

"Oh, and Draco?" 

He turned back, a confused look on his face. 

"Make sure you come to me every time you need it, sans you go to a discount potions shop that has absolutely no idea what they're doing." 

Maybe this Severus wasn't all that different.


	25. Chapter 25

Right after Lunch was Care of Magical Creatures. Sadly, it wasn't a class Draco shared with the others, so he met with the other Ravenclaws he had taken to hanging out with: Luna Lovegood, Terry Boot, and Anthony Goldenstein. 

"Been a while, eh Draco?" Terry said as they all walked through the clearing. 

"Yeah, how's it been with Potter?" Anthony chimed in. 

"He's been acting... odd lately," Draco said, reminiscing about all the times Harry seemed to look away and the stares he received in the Great Hall. Even when Draco sat at the Gryffindor table, Harry's eyes never seemed to leave him. 

Anthony and Terry shared a look. Terry seemed ready to speak up, but Luna beat him to it. 

"There's been a lot of Lovey Doveys floating around him lately," Luna said. 

"Lovey Doveys?" Draco questioned. 

Luna opened her mouth to say something else but stopped suddenly, inclining her head and muttering to herself. Was it to herself? He couldn't tell. She looked up again, a slightly apologetic look on her face this time. 

"Sorry, Draco, the Wrackspurts don't want me to tell you. Besides, the Lovey Doves wouldn't want you to know right now either. They say it'll take another year at most; maybe eleven months at least." She mumbled that last part to herself. It was definitely to herself this time. 

“They say it'll take elven months; a month at most.”

Draco gave her a questioning look, but he wasn't weirded out. They had all gotten used to Luna's tendencies. Anthony laughed to himself and nudged Terry in the rib. He let out a little 'oof' but returned that mysterious smile. Draco felt like he was missing something. 

"Not you too," Draco sighed. Harry, Ron, and Hermione had been acting this way as well. It was getting annoying and quickly. Draco didn't like not knowing things. He wasn't used to it! 

"Sorry, Dray, but we're both sworn to secrecy." They both put their hands over their hearts. 

Draco pinched the bridge of his nose. "Sometimes you two act too much like the Weasley twins." 

"Thank you!" they both yelled at the same time. Draco shuddered to think what would happen if they teamed up with the Weasley twins. Total anarchy. Anthony and Terry spent their spare time coming up with prank ideas, ‘just in case.’ They had a whole portfolio filled with pages upon pages of pranks. Good thing they were too lazy to actually go through with them.

"We're here!" Luna smiled, looking at the air. It probably wasn't the air, maybe another creature she could see. Draco would have to ask her about that later. Her creatures always fascinated him.

"Draco!" Hagrid called out. The giant slowly came into view. But instead of the normal cheery grin he wore, he looked dejected. By the looks of the redness around his eyes, he had been crying. Draco didn't know the half-giant that well, but Harry must have been rubbing off on him, because he felt inexplicably worried about him.

"Hagrid, what's wrong?" Draco asked in a soft voice. Terry and Anthony were looking at Hagrid with similar looks of concern while Luna was tearing up a bit. 

"Yeh didn't hear? Classes er canceled. I'm the only teacher to be fired on thr firs' day!" Hagrid blubbered, getting more and more worked up. Looking around, it was true that there was no one else around. How had he not noticed that? Apparently, Terry and Anthony were more distracting than he had given them credit for. They should be spies...

"What happened?" Anthony asked from the side. 

"Did someone hurt you? Tell me their names and I'll beat their arses!" Terry squared up. 

"The nargles can steal their shoes." Luna smiled with a hint of mischief in her eyes.

"I was showin' the class Buckbeak an' Nott insulted 'em even though I told 'em not tah. An' Buckbeak slashed 'em!" His accent got heavier and heavier. 

It felt like he had been punched in the gut. Was this what the others had felt when he had done the exact same things? He already felt guilty for his past but this...

Terry let out a roar. "When I get my hands on that Nott, I'm gonna show him a good bat bogey hex!" 

_'That had been me.'_ It was completely different, seeing things from an outsider's perspective. He felt... detached, in a sort of way. He knew that he had been like that, but it hadn't sunk in yet. That he had been awful. All that anger whenever Nott insulted one of his friends or called Hermione that awful slur had been the same anger Potter had felt on Malfoy all those years ago. 

Suddenly, the whole animosity between Potter and Malfoy made sense. But he wasn't that person anymore. And neither was Harry. In a way, Malfoy was a different person. As well as Potter. It was no longer Potter and Malfoy, instead, it was _Harry_ and _Draco_. The simple thought of that stumped him. Seeing what could have been with his own eyes was amazing in its own way. 

"It'll be alright, Hagrid." Anthony offered empty comfort. Luna looked over at Draco and let out a sigh. 

"I was really looking forward to this class," she moped. It was odd, seeing Luna in such a down mood. Normally, she was the one who offered comfort, no matter how odd it was. She was always the person that made you feel better or made you laugh when you needed it. And half the time, she wasn't even trying. 

Draco silently put a hand on her shoulder. He still wasn't good at the whole ‘comforting his friends’ thing. Luna sent him a grateful look. Apparently, she knew this too. He really had to work on his social skills.

"But we'll have class tomorrow, right?" Terry asked, a hopeful smile on his face. But there was a sad undertone to it. He knew as well as Draco that they wouldn't. And he wasn't even a Seer. Or from the future. 

In response, Hagrid started crying harder, trying to get something out, but all they heard were sniffles and the occasional blow of the nose. They all exchanged looks. It was anyone's guess as to what would actually happen - sans Draco - but they all knew Care of Magical Creatures was already off to a bad start. Terry let out a yell, while Anthony walked over to Hagrid and wrapped his arms around the bigger man -- or tried to.

"Bloody Nott! He ruins everything!" Terry snarled. The magic around him crackled threateningly. 

"He can't actually do that..." Draco mumbled to himself, already thinking of a plan. Maybe this way, he could atone for one of the horrible things he had done in the past. It wouldn't be much, but it was a start. 

"Where're you going?" Terry yelled when he noticed Draco leaving, more confused than angry. It looked like he was cooling down. 

"Common room!" came the short reply. 

None of them caught the shit-eating grin on his face.

************************

"....Pardon me?" Lucius Malfoy asked his one and only son. The light of his life. The child he had spoiled. The perfect Pureblood heir. And the son he had almost killed, but they would get past that eventually. 

Draco’s face remained the same amongst the embers.

Never in a million years would he have imagined himself in this position. Merlin would rise again before he would agree to this. But... the guilt for what he had done last year was eating him up inside. He would never disobey his lord but.... at the expense of his own child. The thought pained him more than he would ever admit. Could he really deny him this after the hell he had put him through last year? The summer had been hell for him. Hearing his child cry out in his sleep and the aged look in his eyes. 

Had that look been there before? Lucius couldn't say. He had never paid much attention to Draco. Most of the things he knew about him were because of Narcissa. Or Draco would tell him himself. 

"I want you to make sure Hagrid doesn't get fired and that the Hippogriff doesn't get executed," Draco repeated, a fire in his eyes Lucius had only seen in the most stubborn of Gryffindors. 

But he had occasionally seen the same light in the most intelligent of Ravenclaws. 

And in the most cunning of Slytherins. 

And the most loyal of Hufflepuffs. 

Lucius let out a sigh, and if he wasn't the respectable Pureblood he was, he would have run a hand over his face. Opposing Nott. The house of Nott wasn't one he thought of often. They didn't normally stand out much. They were like the houses of Greengrass and Parkinson; not nearly important enough for a Malfoy such as himself to pay attention to. 

But with that said, Nott had been gaining a lot of favor with the board lately. It had come out of nowhere. He had done the same thing Lucius had planned, and in doing so had become much more powerful. His vote was now worth that of two people. He had Greengrass and Avery under his thumb. If he pushed for the execution of a Hippogriff it would definitely get approved. With Lucius opposing him, however...

"Why do you even care for the life of a beast like that? And the job of a _half-breed_?" He spat the word. It left a vile taste on his tongue. The simple thought of those creatures never failed to make him ill. 

"Because, _father_ , I care about other people. Hagrid has helped me in the past and if he hadn't helped us with the Basilisk last year my chances of survival would have gone down the toilet." Draco raised his head, not looking like he was going to back down anytime soon. 

Lucius internally winced. He knew what Draco was doing. Bringing out his guilt from what happened last year. 

And it was working. 

Lucius sighed. This child was going to be the death of him. "Very well." 

*************************

"Draco!" Hermione yelled as she ran up to him. Draco only had enough time to take a single step back before a body collided into him. He suddenly found himself being crushed into a hug. 

"Hermione--" he wheezed. Merlin, she was stronger than she looked. 

"Hermione, he needs to breath!" Ron yelled, a grin on his face. 

In response, Hermione only slightly loosened her grip, letting Draco breathe again. Was it his imagination or did Harry look a bit jealous? Said boy was looking away with his arms crossed and... was that a pout?

"I can't believe you got your Dad to do that!" she squealed. 

"You heard about that?" He had talked to his father maybe an hour ago.

"Hogwarts rumor mill, mate," Ron answered.

....

It seemed he had made the mistake of letting someone listen in on their firecall. He really needed to start using Silencing charms. 

Hermione finally let go of him and Harry walked up to him, a bright smile on his face and a look of utter adoration in his eyes. The simple look made his cheeks heat up. No one had ever looked at him like that. Like he was the most precious thing in the world. 

"Thank you! Hermione was already working herself silly trying to figure out a way to stop them from killing Buckbeak. We didn't even think about asking you!" Harry gave him a quick hug. So quick that Draco could still feel the arms wrapped around him even when they were gone. 

"Yeah, sometimes we forget how powerful your dad really is," Ron said, shrugging his shoulders. 

"Speaking of, how did you even get him to do it?" He asked. 

"I used his guilt against him," Draco replied. Harry gave him a questioning look. 

"He feels guilty?" He asked, a doubtful look on his face. It spoke volumes of Lucius' character that a twelve-year-old boy who had only met him twice could see through his mask. 

"I know, I was shocked too. But it worked." The whole guilt complex thing had been a huge gamble, but it was the plan with the least risk. And it wouldn't damage his already precarious relationship with his father. In Draco's mind, the plan had seemed foolish. To his surprise, it had actually worked. 

Maybe... maybe there was hope for him after all. The thought made him giddy with happiness. Could he really steer his father away from the dark? Sure, he would never really atone for all the things he had already done. But maybe, just maybe, Draco could stop him from digging a deeper grave. 

Draco shook himself out of his thoughts. There would be plenty of time to think of that later. Right now, he needed to get back to the Headmaster’s office. There was something that had been bugging him all day. And he intended to get answers. 

"I'll talk to you all later. I have to do something." And Draco was off. 

*********************

It was hazy, but Draco definitely remembered Severus being there at the meeting with Dumbledore and McGonagall. Severus should have known he was a Veela. The thought had slipped his mind, what with everything else going on, but when he actually had time to think about it... it was wrong. Severus wouldn't forget something like that. It just wasn't in his character. You could make an offhanded comment about his hair ten years ago and he would still remember what you said the next time you 'had the audacity to show your face'. 

There was only one thing that could make him forget something like that. An Obliviate spell. And who was the one person who was able to get through Severus' Occlumency?

Albus Dumbledore. 

Well, it was either him or Voldemort and he didn't even _want_ to try and open _that_ can of worms. 

"Strawberry Yeti," he said before the Gargoyle even tried to ask. The staircase was revealed and Draco bolted up the steps. He didn't want to think Dumbledore had actually Obliviated Severus, but what else was there to think? 

The old coot better have a good explanation for this or Draco would start wishing he _had_ killed the guy. 

"Ah, Mr. Malfoy. To what do I owe this visit?" 

"Did you Obliviate Severus?" Draco asked in a tone he knew was overly harsh. But to him, it was justified. 

Dumbledore blinked, for a moment looking uncharacteristically surprised before slowly melting into grim realization. If there wasn't enough proof before, Dumbledore's expression was all he needed to confirm the harsh truth. 

That goddamn bastard. 

Draco opened his mouth to say something when Dumbledore raised his hand. 

"I understand that you must have questions but you must understand the reason as to why I did it," Dumbledore started. 

Draco reluctantly sat down. He wondered what excuse the man would come up with. 

"He asked me to," Dumbledore said... bluntly. That was weird. If there was one thing the old bastard wasn't, it was _blunt._

Then Draco's mind registered what he said.

"What?" he asked dumbly. 

Dumbledore chuckled. The tension slowly left the air as the dreamy smile came back onto his face. "He asked me to, Draco. You know that Severus is a master Occlumens, yes?" 

Draco nodded. 

"But you also know that your father is an accomplished Legilimens." Draco's confusion slowly gave way to understanding. 

"The day we discovered your origin, Severus came to me with a request. He asked me to Obliviate him. You see, Lucius is one of the few people able to get past Severus' shields. Back in their school days, they would practice on each other's minds. Your father knows how to get into Severus' mind, and he didn't want to take the chance of Lucius finding out and jeopardizing your safety. He knew he wouldn't be able to Obliviate himself, as I'm sure you know how dangerous that is, and so he asked me."

Dumbledore popped a lemon drop into his mouth. "I was against it, of course, but he kept on insisting and eventually said that if I didn't do it he would do it himself. I didn't want him to get hurt and so I agreed."

"He did that... for me?" Draco asked softly. 

The twinkle in Dumbledore's eyes practically blinded him. "The bonds between family are great, Draco. Even when they are not bound by blood." His eyes grew distant, as if reliving something, and, for once, Draco found himself wondering about Dumbledore's past. 

Draco’s thoughts turned to Snape.

 _'He really cares.'_ Draco thought. He knew that Severus would show his affection in different and subtle ways. Sometimes, you would have to look into his every action and pick them apart looking for his ulterior motive. Severus never did anything on a whim. It was odd to hear about him doing something so forward. Where the reason why he did it was just so glaringly obvious. 

He cared. And that thought alone made Draco feel warm inside. It was nice to have someone that he could call a father figure. This time, he wouldn't have to live up to anyone's expectations. Severus cared about Draco for Draco. 

"Thank you, Headmaster." Draco smiled. 

*************************

Draco was sitting with Terry, Anthony and Luna, talking about miscellaneous topics, when Nott entered the Great Hall. Draco knew when Nott entered because Terry nudged him with his elbow (with far too much force in Draco's opinion). Draco looked up to see almost everyone at the Gryffindor and, surprisingly, Hufflepuff table glaring at Nott. It looked like a lot of people cared about Hagrid. 

Nott himself looked livid as he glared directly at Draco. Draco winced. He had definitely heard about Lucius. That wouldn't be good when Draco would have to talk him out of being a Death Eater. Then again, Nott knew the consequences of his actions. There was no way to truly win here. 

Harry, Ron and Hermione sent him grateful looks. Draco noticed that many of the Ravenclaws were giving him a thumbs up and even a few Slytherins were sending him hidden looks of gratitude. That would help his popularity. 

Draco sighed and turned his attention back to his Charms book. He was due for a lesson with Flitwick soon enough. Last year had been a bit of a drag, for obvious reasons, and he was determined to make sure this year didn't go the same. 

"Your next class is Defence right?" Anthony asked quietly. Unlike the other tables, Ravenclaw was always somewhat subdued. And that was how everyone in the House liked it. Sure, there was chattering here and there, but there was always a good chunk of people who wanted nothing to do with conversation and only wanted to pay attention to their homework or something of the sort. 

Draco was a sort of mix between the two. "Yes," he responded shortly, making a quick note in the textbook before flipping the page. 

"Darn, that means we won't see you for the rest of the day, " Terry whined dramatically. 

"Oh no. How ever shall you live without me?" Draco answered sarcastically. 

"Speaking of," Luna chimed in, finally looking up from her copy of the Quibbler, "Hogsmeade weekend is coming up soon. Would you like to go with us, Draco?" She took a sip of her pumpkin juice before staring at something above Harry's head. Probably more of those Lovey Doveys she had been talking about. 

"I don't know." Draco tilted his head slightly, thinking it over in his head. If he remembered correctly, Harry hadn't gone to Hogsmeade last time. He grimaced at the reminder of his first Hogsmeade. That was a weekend he would never forget, if only for the sheer embarrassment that had accompanied it. 

"It'll be fun," Anthony goaded. 

Draco sighed. "Alright, but don't expect me to Zonko’s with you." He directed the last part at Terry who, in response, gasped and clutched his chest as if he had been mortally wounded. 

"You wound me! Betrayal! By my own friend!" he wailed. The Ravenclaws around them rolled their eyes in fond exasperation. It was often joked that Terry belonged in Gryffindor with Fred and George Weasley, but everyone knew his drive for learning new things was that of a Ravenclaw. Terry himself often mentioned how the Hat had said that he was a perfect combination between a Gryffindor and a Ravenclaw. It was less mentioning and more bragging. 

"Actually," Anthony put his quill down. Terry smirked knowingly in the background as Anthony avoided eye contact.

"Would you like to go on a date with me, Luna?" 

Draco choked on his pumpkin juice. 

Luna didn't even look up from her magazine, but Draco caught the faintest hints of a blush. "The Lovey Doveys tell me I should." 

*********************

No one noticed how Harry started hugging Hermione when he opened a letter that, strangely enough, had the Malfoy seal on it. The tension in his shoulders had faded completely and the nervous expression was replaced with one of complete happiness.

"She said yes! She said yes!" Harry squealed in a voice that could break glass. 

"Keep it down! You don't want Draco to hear!" Ron shushed him. 

"Congratulations, Harry." Hermione smiled. 

**********************

Narcissa Malfoy sat in her living room, still in shock from the letter she had just written. A part of her was gaping at the fact that she had just granted permission for a _courtship_ between her only son and a _half-blood_....

But another part of her knew she had just made the right choice.


	26. Chapter 26

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really am sorry for the late update. I haven't been feeling myself lately. There was recently a death in the family so I've been dealing with that. I don't want to force myself to work on this story because then I'll lose motivation for it. 
> 
> But don't worry! I've got an outline and an amazing beta who both motivate me to give my all to this story. I really enjoy the liberty I have with the whole Seer and Divination thing.
> 
> PS: If you want to keep up with me you can **check out my Tumblr** \--
> 
> https://nongerine.tumblr.com/

Draco sat in Professor Trelawney's office. It was finally time for their tutoring lessons. He had arrived around ten minutes ago, but Trelawney wasn't here yet. But that wasn't exactly surprising; Professor Trelawney wasn't known for her punctuality. Draco had begun meditating. He had been doing it in the last timeline. It helped him relax. And boy, did he need to. 

This last week had been hectic, with all the schoolwork as well as writing down his knowledge of what happened this year. He couldn't let a repeat of last year happen, that had been a major screwup. 

He had lost a whole year because of his carelessness. He would have to be more cautious, checking all of his things for dark enchantments would be a good start, he could be better, he knew he could. He wouldn't let all that research go to waste, all that planning and even what Potter had did for him.

That was another thing he had noticed. He had begun to call this Potter, ‘Harry’ unlike all the last timeline. He _was_ closer to this one. 

"Draco," he heard someone call. He looked over, expecting to see Trelawney or someone but instead, he saw... Harry? 

What was he doing here?

"Harry?" he asked. 

Harry didn’t even look his way. _‘Well, all right then smart arse, ignore me for all I care.’_

Slowly, the scene around him began to melt, changing from the Divination room to the grounds outside of Hogwarts. The Whomping Willow that they had crashed into stood before him, and he watched as the scene changed from day to night. It was like watching time shiftshift/surge/fly around him, seeing teachers pass and go, and seeing animals blur dash/blur/run quickly from one side of his vision to another. 

Finally, it stopped right when he had a clear view of the full moon. And he heard something that made his blood stop: a howl. A wolf howl. That would be inconspicuous if it wasn't for the fact that there was currently a person in mid-transformation from human to wolf. Remus Lupin. 

He knew it, he knew Lupin was trouble. That was all werewolves were, good for nothing monsters--

NO! 

He wouldn't think like that. He knew he shouldn't judge others for what they couldn’t controll. It was the person that mattered, not what they were. From what he had seen and heard, Lupin was the nicest DADA professor they had had. But... he still couldn't get the image of Greyback out of his head. The way he had stood above the houself as she screamed and begged and he cackled as his teeth sunk into her jugular. When he had seen Draco watching with a look of horror and grinned evilly at him.

He was so caught up in his own musings that he didn't notice Harry and Hermione and... himself? They seemed to be frozen in fear, unable to back away. He couldn’t get a good look at himself, it was if he was blurred out in a way but he seemed to be doing something.

Suddenly, ablack dog ran out from the tree and lunged towards the wolf. But Draco's attention latched onto the rat that was scurrying away from the scene. He didn't know why he felt it was so important, but he couldn't look away from it. The blur that was his future self also seemed to notice him.

"Pettigrew's getting--" A warped voice called out.

"Draco Malfoy!" He flinched, a booming voice yelling right in his ear.

"Yes?" He turned. 

"Hmm, seems like it worked," Professor Trelawney smiled.

"What worked, Professor?" he asked absentmindedly, his mind still on that... daydream? No, it was obviously a vision. But they had never been so clear before, or so long. They were normally hazy little flashes or odd signs here and there. At first, he wasn't even able to tell the difference between this 'vision' and reality. If these things were going to continue he would have to figure out a way to tell the difference between the two--

"Draco!" Trelawney snapped her fingers right in front of his face. 

"Yes!" He jolted. He kept zoning out; why did he keep on zoning out?

"I think I may have the answer to that, Draco." 

"Did I say that out loud?" 

"Yes. It seems the vapor was more powerful than I had realized." 

Vapor?

"What vapor?" 

"This vapor." She pointed to a purple flower on her desk that looked oddly familiar. Now that he was paying more attention, he could see the small green puffs of smoke escaping the flower. It was honestly kind of mesmerizing. 

"What is this, Professor?" 

"This is our lesson for today. I will answer your questions in due time, but first, I want you to tell me if you can see anything around the flower." She put her hand right above the flower where the gas was coming out. 

"I can see green smoke." 

"Look closer, concentrate. Look beyond what you think you can see and focus on what you don't." 

_‘Thank you so much for the clarification’,_ Draco thought sarcastically. 

"Alright," he said, even though he had no idea what she meant. But then again, most of the books he read were always so confusing on the subject of seers. It was hard to put into words just what you felt when you had a vision or compare the feeling of a prophecy to something else. Perhaps he would have to reach into his imagination. 

The subject of 'reality' didn't really apply to the art of Divination. The normal muggle could have their perception of reality changed with a simple charm or a deflection spell. But... there were cases where a muggle could break through these spells. It was always the younger muggles, who were more inclined to believe in magic and had the willpower to deflect the magic. The younger muggles who were so in touch with their imagination that they could convince themselves that the voice telling them to 'leave this place' or the need to be ‘somewhere else' was wrong, that they needed to be _here_ , they needed to keep going forward. That was also a part of Divination: looking past what others told you to see, and deciding for yourself what was real and what you could really _see_.

When he looked back at the flower, he saw a whole array of different colors. Red, yellow, and blue vapors now swirled around alongside the green. Now he knew what Professor Trelawney meant. 

"Red, yellow, blue, and green." 

He looked up at his mentor to see her smiling widely. 

"Correct. This flower is called the Vide Supra flower. Its name translates from Latin to 'see beyond'; see beyond what you see at first. Always give things a second glance." 

Professor Trelawney went on to explain, "This is a flower that is often used amongst older Seers. It is sporadic, and you need much patience to grow it, but if the conditions are just right, it will release a vapor that will heighten the clarity and length of your visions."

"Here." She handed the flower to him. "I want you to keep this in your room. Learn to tell reality from your visions, and then we will have our next lesson. Do not tell anyone what it is. If anyone asks, it is an assignment from Professor Sprout. I have already contacted the headmaster about this so no one will question it." 

She wanted him to keep it? Just five minutes alone with it had given him such a strong vision. What could prolonged exposure do? Was this dangerous in any way? No, it couldn't be; Professor Trelawney wouldn't give it to him if it was. Well, he always did like a challenge.  
________________________________

Just as Draco entered his dormitory he noticed something peculiar. A flower had been left on his bed. A blue rose that would look well with the purple flower he already had. He knew it was some super special eye opening flower or whatever but it looked pretty, okay? And who was he to argue with a little bit of redecorating around this drab place.

He looked back at the flower on his bed, why would someone leave this here? He walked over, carefully inspecting it. The thorns had been charmed so he could grab it just fine. 

Well, he had to admit the flower looked lovely. It didn't show any sign of wilting and smelled amazing. 

The only reason he could think of for giving someone a flower anonymously would be a romantic—

_Wait…_

Flowers were often used in the first stage of courting. If someone wanted to express their love anonymously or make the courting a surprise, it was expected for them to leave a flower somewhere the person would notice immediately. 

But who would be courting him? He hadn't noticed anyone... but he hadn't really paid attention much, had he. Too caught up in his work to even think about things like love. 

Did this person give him a blue flower just because he was a Ravenclaw? No, they wouldn't put this much work into making it look nice and then make such an obvious move. 

He wondered what blue roses meant in the language of flowers. He put the Vide Supra flower on his side table.

He walked over to Anthony's bookshelf. Anthony had been rather interested in flower language ever since he had started wooing Luna. Luna absolutely loved the language of flowers so he had many books about them. It wouldn't take too long to find the meaning of a blue rose. 

He grabbed a book from the shelf and began flipping through the pages, ignoring them all until he landed on the one with a moving picture of a blue rose. 

"The blue rose, a flower of the genus Rosa and family Rosaceae, symbolizes hope for an unlikely or unrequited falling in love. In this way, it can also signal someone waiting for a miracle. In short, it means falling in love..." 

Draco would be lying if he said that didn't make him feel warm. It seemed this person was actually doing their research and not just starting off with a red rose like a moron would. It wouldn't hurt to see where this went, would it? 

"Well, looks like someone's got a _crush_ ," someone sing-songed at the doorway. Draco looked over to see Terry walking in with a big smile on his face. 

"Is that rose for someone?" Terry asked, walking over to get a good look at it. 

"No, it's actually for me," Draco answered, the admission feeling somewhat unreal. He still couldn't understand why someone would give him a rose if it wasn't just for his looks. Was that it? Someone just liked the way he looked and had a decent knowledge of flowers?

Terry's eyes widened. "A courting?" he asked. Terry always did catch onto things fast. 

"I think so? I just don't understand why. Is this just a prank? Do they just like the way I look?" 

"Hey! Don't think like that. I'm sure whoever sent you this just fell in love with your sarcastic personality. I mean, what's not to love?" 

_'A lot,'_ he thought. The feelings of self-hatred were coming back. 

Terry smacked him on the back of the head.

"Hey! What was that for?" he asked, rubbing his skull. 

"You were thinking something about yourself that was absolutely wrong. Trust me, whatever pent-up feelings you got for whatever reason don't matter here," Terry smiled. But soon, his expression melted away into something more serious. 

"Listen Draco," he started, in a voice that startled Draco. Terry actually sounded serious for once. "I know that you've been dealing with some pretty bad stuff lately. Last year took its toll on you, but... I can tell there's something else that's been bothering you. If you can't tell me, then I want you to tell someone else. I don't care about knowing your secrets. I just want you to feel better because you're my friend, and I care about you." 

He was speechless. He hadn't expected Terry to care this much about him. 

The smile came back onto Terry's face soon, though. "But hey! If this person really is messing with you, we'll show him that he never messes with us Ravenclaws! That's what friends are for!" 

Draco suddenly felt the urge to laugh, and so he did. He laughed and let himself really enjoy it because Terry was right, he fucking deserved it.

_________________________________

"I can't believe you got a courting flower," Anthony fawned again. 

"It's not that big of a deal." Draco turned a corner, face on fire. They were so close to the DADA classroom. Then he would be free of this torture. 

"Nonsense, we must make sure this person is absolutely perfect for you. At least 3 O's in their classes, right Luna?" 

Luna giggled. "The Lovey Doveys have been talking with the Cupid babies about this, you know. They've been very excited. It's so rare for them to see a courting that they actually approve of." 

"Approve of?" Draco raised an eyebrow. 

"Well, most of the courtings that start around now are for those arranged pureblood marriages. The Cupid babies don't like arranged marriages that much. But the Lovey Doveys are fine with it." Luna put a finger under her chin, narrowing her eyes. Soon, she started muttering under her breath. 

"Well I still think--" Before Anthony could continue Draco slapped a hand over his mouth. "We're here!" He announced. 

Draco rushed in. He could hear Anthony's affronted sounds from behind and Luna's carefree laugh. He set his books on an empty desk and took a quick glance around the room. This was his last class of the day. It wasn't a class he had with the Gryffindors, so that was a shame. But he had his Ravenclaw friends and he was on good terms with the majority of Hufflepuff. 

Except for that awful Zacharias Smith, of course. It seemed that boy just couldn't let go of the fact Draco was a Malfoy. But no matter, he was pretty sure Smith wasn't even in this class. He had heard that bumbling oaf had spilled a potion on him the day before and was resting in the hospital wing.

"Paulene!" He heard Luna cry from across the room. He turned around to see Luna happily chatting to a Hufflepuff with short, curly, dark hair and skin. 

"Draco!" She waved him over. 

Draco looked at the doorway; students were slowly coming in. It looked like they were one of the first ones. He should have enough time to talk to whoever Luna wanted him to. 

"Hello," Draco greeted as he walked over. Paulene - if he remembered correctly - waved back. 

"Draco, this is one of the new students, Paulene Terri." 

"Paulene is fine."

"New student?" Draco asked. He hadn't heard anything about new students. 

"Oh...you haven't heard?" Paulene paled, his voice lowering to a whisper as she tried not to cry.

"No?" He looked between both of them. 

"A week ago, there was an attack on Paulene's village. Blood purists. The majority of Paulene's village is muggle-born and the headmaster at the school there was too." Luna answered for her.

"My family managed to get out safely but... I'll never forget that day..." Draco watched in horror as Paulene began to break into silent sobs. 

Blood purists? He didn't remember anything like this happening last time. And why hadn't he heard of this? His mind immediately began to leap to worst-case scenarios. Was Voldemort back already? No, it wasn't physically possible for him to be back. He had planned everything so carefully. Did he manage to fuck up the timeline this badly? No, things were going so well. No, no no _no!_

"Calm down class!" Draco was pulled out of his thoughts when Professor Lupin entered the classroom. 

"Draco, are you alright?" Luna asked from beside him. 

"What? Yes, I'm fine. Just thinking," he whispered, moving to stand beside Luna and the others as Lupin prepared to show them the boggart.

"Now," Professor Lupin started, "Can anyone tell me what they think is in this closet?" He pointed at a worn old wardrobe that kept on making odd noises and bouncing slightly in place. 

Draco saw no use in playing dumb, so he raised his hand. 

"Mr. Malfoy!" 

"A boggart, sir," Draco answered easily. 

"Well, it appears your teachers truly weren't lying when they spoke of your prowess. Ten points to Ravenclaw!" 

The Ravenclaws around him shot him grateful or proud looks. 

"Yes, there is indeed a boggart in this closet. But can anyone tell me what a boggart does?" 

Anthony raised his hand. 

"Mr. Goldenstein!" 

"The boggart turns into one's worst fear, Sir. But they can only handle one person at a time." 

"Excellent, Ravenclaw is just full of sharp and clever minds, isn't it. Another ten points to Ravenclaw." 

Luna silently patted Anthony on the back and Draco shot him a smile. 

"Now, I understand that this may be scary for some of you, but we will be facing the boggarts today. Remember class, the incantation to get rid of a boggart is _Riddikulus_. But magic alone will not help you in a fight with a boggart. You must imagine something funny and you must imagine that your fear is turning into something that you can laugh at. Something that isn't so scary anymore, just a faded reminder of what that thing once was." 

"Do we have any volunteers?" Lupin asked. 

Luna raised her hand. "The moon frogs tell me I should go first, Sir!" 

Draco heard a few chuckles around the room. He sent those he could see dirty looks. He didn't take well to people making fun of his friends. 

"Thank you, Miss Lovegood. Please, step right up." Lupin stood aside. 

Luna walked over to the wardrobe with a smile on her face. It didn't take long for the boggart to come out.

It was...nothing? But Luna looked terrified. It was odd to see such an emotion on her face. She always looked composed like nothing could scare her, like she was prepared for anything and welcomes surprises. But now, she looked horrified. 

"Moon frogs? Wastchippers? N-Nargles?" Luna asked as she looked around. 

"Lovey Doveys? Where are all of you?" Luna looked close to tears. Draco looked over at Anthony but he looked just as stumped as him. Were all of Luna's creatures gone? Was that her biggest fear? Draco had never doubted the existence of the creatures, but he’d never expected them disappearing to be Luna's biggest fear. 

"Miss Lovegood, remember the incantation." 

Luna took a deep breath and faced the wardrobe again. She shakily raised her wand and yelled, _"Riddikulus!"_

A small army of tiny cotton ball creatures shot out of the wardrobe. They varied in color, some white and others yellow. They had odd little googly eyes on them and were making cute little sounds, like little meows but in higher-pitched voices. Luna reached out to pet one of them and they pressed against her hand. For some reason, Luna found this hilarious and she quickly dissolved into giggles. 

"Excellent, Miss Lovegood. You managed to conquer your fear and turned your boggart into something extremely unique. I've never seen anything like this before. Five points to Ravenclaw!" Lupin looked absolutely delighted. There was a spark of curiosity in his eyes; Draco had seen it many times in Anthony's eyes. Now that he thought about it, Anthony and Lupin did act slightly similar. 

"Luna's amazing, isn't she?" Anthony whispered dreamily next to him. 

"Yes, yes of course she is.” 

"Mr. Malfoy! If you could step right up?" Lupin waved towards him. 

Luna scurried back over to them. She didn't look as composed as she normally did. But she looked better and nowhere near as terrified as she was before, so that was a good thing. 

"Yes, Professor," Draco replied, walking over to the swarm of cotton creatures. He slowly took his wand out and approached the cloud with thinly veiled curiosity. Sure, he was scared to see what it would turn into. But he was also curious of what his worst fear would be. Voldemort? Maybe. Lucius? No; he had few good memories of his father, but they were there. 

The boggart swarm looked over to him. All the creatures tilted their head at the exact same time. _'Okay, that's really creepy,'_ he thought. 

Finally, the boggart seemed to settle on something, Draco raised his wand and was greeted with a sight of—

Oh god. 

Dead bodies. There were dead bodies everywhere. Faceless dead bodies— and the scene in the room had changed. There was no longer a classroom in front of him, but a battlefield. A battlefield that showed the story of something terrible. And all Draco could think was that he had _failed_. These people didn't have dark marks on their arms. They weren't death eaters. He had _failed._ One body lay by his feet, crumpled into a twisted position, wrists unmarked and hands far too small to be an adult’s… 

Everything he had done was for nothing. He could never deny who he really was, just a failure. Someone who was destined to be an enemy of a savior. The prophecy itself had, the one that Draco himself had foretold labeled himself as nothing more but a foe, someone who needed to be defeated. 

"You failed." The small hand wrapped around his ankle, and Draco’s first thought was that it was _cold_. His heart stopped.

"You failed us. You can't deny who you really are--" The voice (the high pitched, small voice) spoke in such a cold and dead manner, not even hateful for the things he had done. It was like all the life was gone from them and _it was his fault--_

Suddenly, Lupin jumped in front of him. The scene quickly changed from the battlefield to a moon. 

_"Riddikulus!"_ Lupin quickly waved his wand and the boggart turned into a little dancing moon. Lupin forced the boggart back into its closet before turning back to the class. They all looked traumatized and Draco's friends were looking at him with clear horror and worry. 

"Class is dismissed. Mr. Malfoy, stay behind please." Lupin spoke in the strictest voice Draco had heard him use. 

Well, this would be a fun conversation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I want to expand on Draco's relationship with the Ravenclaws so you can expect more chapters with the silver trio as I like to call them. Admittedly I got that name from the fanon Slytherin trio, but hey! You gotta get inspiration from somewhere.


End file.
